The movement 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 of inconsistennt, lacking standardization and machine-order. This poses Operational Challenges for Logistics, Postal Delivery, and Service Access. Digipin has been developed to overcome these limits by Introducing a compact, Geo-coded alternative that can serve as a foundational digital public information (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. Its format is Human-Radable and Allows for Offline Retrieval of Location Coordinates using GPS-enabled devices. This enhances usability for both digital and non-digital environment, while the search 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 even communication to applied digital infrastructure solution in collaboration with Governance 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 Repense.

Digipin is the outcome of a research initiative LED by the department of electrical engineering at hyerabad. The Core Team includes dr shashank vedka, Assistant Professor, Dr Lakshmi Prasad Natarajan, Associate Professor, and Dr Soumya Jana, Professor. The team also inscribeed tarandeep singh, a former mtech (Ai) student at Iith.

In their statement, the core group members such as dr vedka, highlighted digipin’s role in enabling concise reproduction

Dr Natarajan noted that the system was intentionally designed for easy users to generate and use digipin with minimal technical input. Dr Jana underlined the potential for digipin in area lacking Reliable address System, Such as During Emergency Response Or in Temporary Service Locations Like Health Camps.

How do digipin work?

The digipin code is designed to be as short as possible with 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 easy 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-adsolution map.

It can be printed as a QR or barcode on parcels for automated sorting and routing, or stored in digital wallets for location image. Its format has been designed to enable directionality and efficient spatial encoding.