Service d´adresse mondial
Encyclopedia
service d´adresse mondial (French: worldwide address service), abbreviation: sedamo, is an Internet based service for conveying postal addresses (mailing addresses) especially in non-Latin
characters (such as Chinese
, Japanese
, or Korean
). Any postal address gets a unique eight letter code, the sedamo address code, which can be used to retrieve the original address in native writing.
(1) Romanisations of Chinese, Japanese, Thai etc. contains ambiguities, thus, a romanised address cannot be re-translated into the original language.
(2) The postmen in the destination countries are not used to recognise addresses written in a foreign (Latin) alphabet. (The situation can be compared to a US-American mailman who has to decipher an address written in Chinese transcription.)
The service d´adresse mondial offers an easy way to ensure correctly written and formatted addresses. The address can be retrieved from the sedamo web site as an image (bitmap) and can be printed directly onto an envelope or address label. The letter-sending user has not to install any special software or foreign language font.
The service d´adresse mondial is operated by the Cross-Cultural Communication Club (CCCC), a charity registered in London, UK. Using sedamo via the web site is for free; the operation is financed by donations.
In the second step, the sender uses the code to print out the foreign address in an international format (as recommended by the Universal Postal Union
). The sedamo system automatically generates a romanisation of any address. This romanisation can be used if an express company only accepts addresses written in Latin.
, Beijing, PRC). The dashes are for better readability only and can be omitted. The code may contain any Latin letter but “I” (which can be mistaken for “1” or “J”), N (similar to “M”), “O” (“0”), “S” (“5”), “V” (“U” or “W”), and “Z” (“2”).
The code contains a check digit
, simple errors such as a single mistyped letter, or the permutation of two successive letters does not lead to a wrong address but an error message. Moreover, neighbouring addresses get strongly different codes which shall prevent
mistakes.
The sedamo address code describes the address, not a receiver (person or company). The only exception is the code AA-AA-AA-AA which directs to the address of the sedamo division of the Cross-Cultural Communication Club.
To mark sender's and receiver's address codes, a double arrow should be used: AA-AA-AA-AA >> CT-QP-ED-TP. For automation purposes, the CCCC suggests to print the code in Code 39
barcode
with a leading “%+” (percent sign followed by plus sign) for the receiver's code and a “%-” (percent sign followed by minus sign) for the sender's code without dashes. For the example given above: *%-AAAAAAAA%+CTQPEDTP* or *%+CTQPEDTP%-AAAAAAAA*
The web site email2address.com supports registering one's own e-Mail address in conjunction with the sedamo address code. After registration, the e-Mail address (electronic address) can be used to retrieve the sedamo address code (and thus the postal/physical address).
The Cross-Cultural Communication Club (CCCC), the operator of sedamo, licenses technology to software developers for accessing the sedamo database. This software can be used to retrieve addresses and to print address labels and waybills. The access to the sedamo database is controlled by username, password, and transaction authentication number
s (TANs) which are provided by the software developer who licensed the sedamo technology, not by the CCCC itself.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
characters (such as Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, or Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
). Any postal address gets a unique eight letter code, the sedamo address code, which can be used to retrieve the original address in native writing.
Background
Especially people from the Asian world face the problem that “westerners” (people from Europe and USA) cannot write the postal address in their native language. Though work-arounds exist (such as writing the address using a romanization), these are error-prone and slow down the postal delivery, due to two reasons:(1) Romanisations of Chinese, Japanese, Thai etc. contains ambiguities, thus, a romanised address cannot be re-translated into the original language.
(2) The postmen in the destination countries are not used to recognise addresses written in a foreign (Latin) alphabet. (The situation can be compared to a US-American mailman who has to decipher an address written in Chinese transcription.)
The service d´adresse mondial offers an easy way to ensure correctly written and formatted addresses. The address can be retrieved from the sedamo web site as an image (bitmap) and can be printed directly onto an envelope or address label. The letter-sending user has not to install any special software or foreign language font.
The service d´adresse mondial is operated by the Cross-Cultural Communication Club (CCCC), a charity registered in London, UK. Using sedamo via the web site is for free; the operation is financed by donations.
Usage
In the first step, the receiver looks up the sedamo address code of the destination address. This code is forwarded to the sender.In the second step, the sender uses the code to print out the foreign address in an international format (as recommended by the Universal Postal Union
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...
). The sedamo system automatically generates a romanisation of any address. This romanisation can be used if an express company only accepts addresses written in Latin.
The sedamo Address Code
The sedamo address code consists of eight letters, e.g., CT-QP-ED-TP (which is the code for the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests inside the Temple of HeavenTemple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest...
, Beijing, PRC). The dashes are for better readability only and can be omitted. The code may contain any Latin letter but “I” (which can be mistaken for “1” or “J”), N (similar to “M”), “O” (“0”), “S” (“5”), “V” (“U” or “W”), and “Z” (“2”).
The code contains a check digit
Check digit
A check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection, the decimal equivalent of a binary checksum. It consists of a single digit computed from the other digits in the message....
, simple errors such as a single mistyped letter, or the permutation of two successive letters does not lead to a wrong address but an error message. Moreover, neighbouring addresses get strongly different codes which shall prevent
mistakes.
The sedamo address code describes the address, not a receiver (person or company). The only exception is the code AA-AA-AA-AA which directs to the address of the sedamo division of the Cross-Cultural Communication Club.
To mark sender's and receiver's address codes, a double arrow should be used: AA-AA-AA-AA >> CT-QP-ED-TP. For automation purposes, the CCCC suggests to print the code in Code 39
Code 39
__FORCETOC__Code 39 is a variable length, discrete barcode symbology....
barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
with a leading “%+” (percent sign followed by plus sign) for the receiver's code and a “%-” (percent sign followed by minus sign) for the sender's code without dashes. For the example given above: *%-AAAAAAAA%+CTQPEDTP* or *%+CTQPEDTP%-AAAAAAAA*
sedamo-based services
- eMail2address
The web site email2address.com supports registering one's own e-Mail address in conjunction with the sedamo address code. After registration, the e-Mail address (electronic address) can be used to retrieve the sedamo address code (and thus the postal/physical address).
- sedamo-based software
The Cross-Cultural Communication Club (CCCC), the operator of sedamo, licenses technology to software developers for accessing the sedamo database. This software can be used to retrieve addresses and to print address labels and waybills. The access to the sedamo database is controlled by username, password, and transaction authentication number
Transaction authentication number
A Transaction authentication number, TAN or T.A.N. is used by some online banking services as a form of single use one-time passwords to authorize financial transactions...
s (TANs) which are provided by the software developer who licensed the sedamo technology, not by the CCCC itself.