How Long Before City and State Drop From Addresses?
I think that it is time to stop including city and state in addresses. Here is why.
This past weekend I was using Google Maps to get directions to a party. Earlier in the week, I had used it to find the way to a doctor’s office. In the past year, I have probably used this service 100 times.
As I was typing in the address to be found on Sunday, it occurred to me that I have not entered the city or state part of the address that I have been looking for in months. I just drop them from business cards when entering them and Google does not care. For instance, “100 Main Street 34256” is just a “100 Main Street Potomac, PA 34256” to Google. It has never steered me wrong,.
That got me thinking… Why do we even list the city and state in addresses any longer? Seems to me that it just adds complexity and error opportunity to the data set at this point. Google can find the address, the post office can find you, your GPS navigation system pinpoints it, and there is no ambiguity on the street without city/state.
In addition, with all of the new contact information expected on business cards such as Twitter username, instant messaging handle, and Google Voice phone numbers, the saved space could be used better. Have you noticed how all the cards you were handed recently have been printed in portrait vs. landscape orientation? That’s to cram more contact data on there.
About the only reason that I could think of for having city/state listed in addresses any longer is status. Obviously, if you have paid for a Beverly Hills home address or a Wall Street business one, you surely want to trumpet that on your stationary and business cards. Of course, the opposite holds true as well, if you have not paid the “location, location, location” premium, dropping city/state could be a very good thing for your address.
I vote for dropping city/state from addresses immediately. This could be the next “Internet Effect” of our Information Age as a legacy data need gets dropped due to better, more readily available information.
Do you think that it is time to drop city/state from addresses? Do you still use them? Did you know that you could skip them in Google Maps? Will it be good riddance for you or will you miss cities and states? Share your thoughts.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for August 18, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: LIFE Pittsburgh
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