DIGIPIN—The not-so-perfect solution inspired by OLC

India as a country did make a huge innovation in tech when we talk about UPI. But not everything is and can be the next UPI. I am not a pessimist, but think about it like, why reinvent the wheel?
A couple of days ago I heard about something called DIGIPIN, and it struck my mind, why not use the Google Plus code or Open Location Code (OLC) in the first place? The name itself says it out loud. The OLC is licensed under Apache-2.0.

Mappls (formerly known as MapMyIndia), when launched, came up with their own proprietary version of encoding a location into alphanumeric, which needed their servers to decode that. They call it eLoc. This is totally incompatible with other navigation systems, and it is just another vendor lock. Back when they introduced the technology, I had flagged it off to Rohan Verma, the CEO of Mappls; he felt the proprietary technology is better. It is just nonstandard and pure vendor lock.

A similar thing happened with DIGIPIN, which has been developed by the Department of Posts in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and NRSC, ISRO. The DIGIPIN technology just feels like a copy of the existing Google OLC.

The policy document has mentioned a few points on interoperability where the DIGIPIN tech itself contradicts the statements.

Enable Ecosystem-wide Interoperability and Innovation: DHRUVA aspires to unlock new possibilities for address data related services in much the same way as the UPI has triggered an explosion of bundled financial services. By providing a foundational technological layer complete with published, open APIs and consent-based protocols, it aims to eliminate barriers to entry for new players. As a result, innovators can integrate high-quality, geo-coded address data, or address accuracy to expand their service offerings vertically and horizontally or offer new forms of services altogether to end users, and offer Address-as-a-Service (‘AaaS’). AaaS is the array of services associated with address data management to support secure and efficient interactions between users, government entities, and private sector organizations. This approach incentivizes innovation, fosters competition, and invites cutting-edge solutions that may not have been accessible under conventional addressing systems.

OLC has been around for a long time, and it serves the very purpose that DIGIPIN is attempting to solve, but OLC works on a global level, unlike DIGIPIN, which works only on Indian territories.
Trying to implement DIGIPIN is like another vendor lock, making it impossible to work with open standards such as OLC.
If we take a look at the implementation of DIGIPIN, we can see they are utilizing OpenStreetMap which recognizes OLC.
The use of an existing framework that works universally on the globe, which is already open source and free to use and has been functional and time-tested for many years, makes total sense to be adopted by postal services in India rather than coming up with a new and different incompatible tech.

Another strong reason why we should be using OLC is the case study by Addressing the Unaddressed. ATU has successfully completed the project in some part of Kolkata in India. Even India Post has been associated with the OLC/Plus Codes tech in that region. This case study is proof that we can use OLC, and we don’t need DIGIPIN at all to meet the end goal.

The DIGIPIN website says, “The feedback and suggestions on the DHRUVA policy document may be sent to digipin@indiapost.gov.in by 31.07.2025.*”*

I have already dropped my feedback. If you agree with my thoughts, I would kindly ask you to make a suggestion to them to use OLC.

I strongly hope the suggestion gets heard.