The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), in partnership with the Department of Posts and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO, has developed ‘DIGIPIN’, a machine-interpretable, open-source geospatial addressing system.
The move is aimed at creating a precise, uniform, and digital infrastructure for physical addresses across India, including urban, rural, and maritime locations. DIGIPIN is expected to complement the existing Postal Index Number (PIN) code system, as per a statement by IIT-H.
Why the need for DIGIPIN?
Traditional address formats in India are often inconsistent, lacking standardisation and machine-readability. This poses operational challenges for logistics, postal delivery, and service access. DIGIPIN has been developed to overcome these limitations by introducing a compact, geo-coded alternative that can serve as a foundational digital public infrastructure (DPI) for addressing.
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DIGIPIN is designed as a geohash-based code that can be an alphanumeric string encoding a geographic location using the latitude and longitude of any point of interest, in India. Its format is human-readable and allows for offline retrieval of location coordinates using GPS-enabled devices. This enhances usability for both digital and non-digital environments, while ensuring privacy by not embedding any personal data.
Meet the team behind DIGIPIN
According to a statement from the institute, DIGIPIN was developed as part of IITH’s ongoing commitment to applied digital infrastructure solutions in collaboration with government and public service entities. According to IITH, the system could serve not only postal and logistics operations but also support government service delivery, urban planning, and disaster response.
DIGIPIN is the outcome of a research initiative led by the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad. The core team includes Dr Shashank Vatedka, Assistant Professor, Dr Lakshmi Prasad Natarajan, Associate Professor, and Dr Soumya Jana, Professor. The team also included Tarandeep Singh, a former MTech (AI) student at IITH.
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In their statement, the core group members such as Dr Vatedka, highlighted DIGIPIN’s role in enabling concise representation of addresses that can be machine-readable and usable across platforms.
Dr Natarajan noted that the system was intentionally designed for ease of adoption, allowing users to generate and use DIGIPIN with minimal technical input. Dr Jana underlined the potential for DIGIPIN in areas lacking reliable address systems, such as during emergency response or in temporary service locations like health camps.
How does DIGIPIN work?
The DIGIPIN code is designed to be as short as possible while retaining high accuracy. Users can derive the geographic location embedded in a DIGIPIN with low computational effort, even without internet access. It is applicable to densely populated urban zones as well as remote or maritime regions, with each point being assignable with a unique code.
The system is structured to be easy to integrate and requires minimal manual intervention. Users can generate their DIGIPIN using commonly available smartphones with location services and an app equipped with a high-resolution map.
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It can be printed as a QR or barcode on parcels for automated sorting and routing, or stored in digital wallets for location identification. Its format has been designed to enable directionality and efficient spatial encoding.
