• Slides for article

Address and street name grids in the Philippines

Dan Jacobson

Last modified: 2025-08-23 02:46:55 UTC

• Malate address "contours".

• Address grids (black xx00) on a fire district map (USA).
• X axis oblique! (Red 34xx are district numbers.)

• Address grid values in red: standard on paper maps (S. St. Paul, Minnesota, USA). Note 9th Ave. = 900 etc.

• Paper map with address grids this time expressed as ticks on paper map.
• Same Highland park oblique X axis as fire district map above, rotated ticks 0, 100, 300.

• A. Santos Ave., Parañaque (1): why so many kilometers long, but house numbers only advance from 81xx to 84xx?

• A. Santos Ave., Parañaque (2): could it be the underlying grid cuts it at such an oblique angle?

• Sampaloc, Manila address grid observed.
• We can start building a table,

  900	España Boulevard
  1000	P. Florentino Street
  1100	Piy Margal Street

  etc.

• UP Diliman(1): No addresses yet, so we gave them a grid!
• Origin: (2500, 7500) (Oblation Statue.)

• UP Diliman(2): not really (x,y), but a single folded axis with value 5000.

• Olympia, Makati: What is this system? Must be rather scientific, as those are high numbers.

THEPHILBIZNEWS:
FIRING LINE: To `hell' with Makati addresses

By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
April 20, 2023

Premised on good intentions, the Makati City Council has passed an ordinance that will standardize the assignment of address numbers for all lots citywide in the interest of sound management in the local government's disposition of social and basic services as well as protective and emergency response.

This move came about as statistics in this highly urbanized and modern city showed that well over 6,000 individual lots are without a numbered address. At the same time, out of the 36,000 land parcels with existing address numbers, more than 29,000 are not based on a standardized system…

• Katuparan, Taguig(1)
• 6th Av. = 4th St.
  9th Av. = 6th St.
  10th Av. = 7th St.
• North-south
  backbone: 8th St.
• I bet the local school kids could have done a better job, if asked.

• Katuparan, Taguig(2)
• As a matter of fact, "street naming and house numbering systems" simply isn't taught. No, not even in university urban planning graduate curriculum.
• So where does one turn to officially learn it?

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS

Information Report No. 13; April 1950

Street Naming and House Numbering Systems

"Though fog or night the scene encumbers,
Why don't all buildings show their numbers
On lintel, wall or door?
Why can't a house say good and plenty,
'Hey look at me! I'm Nineteen-twenty,
The joint you're looking for!'

• That was 1950.
• Later in 2023→
• So where might OSM want to store the fact that 18th St. = 1800 South?
  1. Just multiply by -100, or estimate from nearby address points. No tag needed.
  2. Store it the tag for the street: name=18th St. value=-1800

• 3. Store just one grid definition per town, county, or state. USA example: name=Nurdston, numbers_per_mile=800, and then several tags saying how the origin (0,0), is tied to the US PLSS at T42N R14E 5th Principal Meridian, SW corner of Sec 27!
• Now e-maps can have grids too!

• Pinagsama, Taguig: Better numbered with just "XY": X=3, Y=7, XY=37.
• Wait! How could streets be named blocks? OSM mistake!?

• Manila South Cemetery(1)
• Ordered non-overlapping street names.
• All streets: no "street" vs. "avenue" dependence.

• Manila South Cemetery(2): single axis analysis.

• Pasay street name grid: odd going NW, even going NE.
• Only streets, no avenues: no danger of confusion.
• OK, but how to coordinate house addresses to street names?

• Caloocan(1): street and
  avenue name grid.

• Caloocan(2):
  my "improvement".

Why can't we just have sequential numbers for street names? (V. Sarne / VISOR August 14, 2019

…Or any nomenclature that provides an orderly sequence so motorists and pedestrians have a clear sense of where they are even without the aid of Google Maps…

Anyone who has been to Manhattan in New York City should be familiar with the ease of walking around the borough, because the roads are laid out on a well-organized grid that has numbered streets intersecting numbered avenues. Which is essentially the same street-naming system you'll find in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

• BGC(1)
• Non-overlapping street vs. avenue numbers. ("Avenue" adds "bonus" orientation information.)
• Can analyze as single axis 16, 17, 18, or 19. (I would use 50, like my 5000 for UP Diliman.)

• BGC(2)
• House address integration: NYC, SFO: disaster; BGC: will be easy, just append "00", if done with care!
• Irregularity observed at 35½. Blame: City planning department.

• Conclusions

  1. Before long house numbering will surely commence in many cities in the Philippines. Extreme care is needed (not to screw it up and leave an eternal mess.)

  2. Paper maps have address grids. How about electronic maps? Should OSM tags for cities, counties, and states also store their grid definition(s)?

  3. On the ground Utah still champion: 44th Av. named directly as 4400… (which I then built upon for my single axis system.)

• Thank you.

  Dan Jacobson (www.jidanni.org)