TONGA – The Kingdom of Tonga is getting a formal postal system for the first time.

The Pacific island nation has joined several other developing countries in adopting new geolocation technology developed by a British company to give everyone a physical mailing address – and not one involving traditional street names and house numbers.

The company, What3Words, has developed an algorithm that can provide accurate location anywhere on Earth down to nine square metres.

Company spokesman Giles Rhys Jones said the developers want to simplify global positioning system (GPS) locations from a long chain of numerals to something people could remember – three random words in a unique combination.

“They realised that there were enough words in the English dictionary to give every three-metre by three-metre square on the planet a unique address,” he said.

“We have a word list in English of 40,000 words, which gives us 64 trillion three-word combinations.

“There are 57 trillion three-metre by three-metre squares in the world, so you can give every single one a unique three word address.”

Mail deliveries in Tonga, like many Pacific islands, are usually made by a hit-and-miss series of directions using land marks and local knowledge.

The new system will allow people living in remote locations to buy items online through e-commerce shopping sites without the fear of their purchases going astray.

Tonga will be the first Pacific nation to adopt the What3Words system to develop a postal service, joining Mongolia, Ivory Coast, Djibouti and the Caribbean Dutch territory Saint Maarten.

The CEO of Tonga Post, Siosifa Pomana, said that in contrast to traditional addressing systems, the three-word approach is much cheaper and simpler to use.

It was tedious to have to ask for directions when making a delivery, he said.

“It really is a nightmare,” he said, adding that the new system is also more efficient.

“When mail gets to the post office, the sorting is much easier and faster for us because we know the What3Words belongs to Mr X or Mrs X,” Pomana said.

“And that will help our deliver guys go by the shortest route and make someone happy by delivering mail on time and probably quicker than we used to do before.”

Tonga Post hopes to distribute three word addresses to most of the country by the end of the year.

“By Christmas, everyone should have a three word address or should know about it and should be able to use it either online or through the traditional mailing system,” Pomana said.

“We’ll definitely see more undelivered mail delivered and see a lot more in-bound mail coming in through e-commerce orders.

Rhys Jones said the technology was free and available to anyone.

“The algorithm can be read on a computer or other device and all you need is a GPS connection. We have this equation that translates a GPS position into three words and back again.”

Rhys Jones said What3Words was available in 13 languages other than English.

“Simply put, the three metre square that you’re standing in has 14 different layers to it, or different languages.

“So you can talk about any location in French, Spanish, Swahili, Mongolian and others,” he said.

“The three words are all different and they’re all appropriate for that language – as soon as you start typing in the French three word address for that location, the system will recognise it. The system will understand whatever language you’re using automatically.”

The postal service application of the three word address system is seen by the British developer as having the potential to bring billions of people basic citizen’s rights, allowing those in the most remote places to participate in their country’s community life.

Rhys Jones said the technology is not just about delivering mail – it also had a humanitarian application.

“We’re being used by the United Nations, we’re being used by the Red Cross in the Philippines for disaster response,” he said.

“It’s everything from finding your friend at a music festival to getting aid packages delivered or telling an ambulance where you are if you have an accident.

“So the applications are very broad.”

- ABC