Having an address is an universal human right, but there are several people that live in places without a standard address limiting their access to public and private services. This collaborative project between public and private sector (INE, IDE, Google, etc.) aims to provide an address for all by using Open Location Codes (Google's plus codes). This will improve the quality and precision of data used in several information systems.

Universal grid as a solution to the lack of standardized geographic addresses:

The geographic address is a set of structured and public information (for example, street, route or road, door number or kilometer) that allows the unequivocal identification of the access location to a lot for private use from a public road. 

The addresses are considered public goods that generate multiple positive externalities. They constitute the input of the civil domicile of the people, as well as the domicile of the corporations, establishments and associations recognized by the public authority.

The effective access of many rights may require, therefore, a correct identification of those addresses. The reception of communications, products and services for homes and companies depends on them, among other things; this is especially critical in emergency situations, where ambiguity or inaccuracy can have more drastic results (for example, a person who died of Covid-19, and it was publicly mentioned that the fatal delay was due to the ambulance did not find his address).
In addition, as pointed out in a publication by the Universal Postal Union, addresses facilitate trade, services, security and technological development, among others. In that document, addresses are considered as a universal human right.

Although there were important advances in its strengthening, such as the recent construction of a National Addresses System, the quality of geographic addresses is very heterogeneous in the country, and areas of the territory without official designation of street names or door numbers, non-compliance with nomenclature standards, incorrect location of points, etc. This is especially aggravated in areas of sudden and recent urbanization. In this context, public institutions maintain fragmentary, incomplete address databases and, in some cases, with contradictory information, which make it difficult to fulfill their missions and prevent the cross-reference of data between organizations for the generation of statistics and the improvement of the public politics.
Some of these problems, such as difficulties for official notification or access to emergency services, require immediate action by the Government, because they enforce the rights of individuals.

As a complementary strategy to improving the country's geographic address base, there is the possibility of using an address coding based on a universal grid.

How does it work? Open Location Codes are like street addresses for people or places that don't have one. Instead of addresses with street names and door numbers, open location codes are based on latitude and longitude, and are displayed as a combination of numbers and letters.
34.90781147171839, -56.20013175020058 -> 3QRX+VW

It is a universal grid based on the Earth coordinate system. The code represents an area whose resolution can be changed by adding or removing characters after the "+" sign. The smallest area is determined by a square of 3x3 meters.

With an open location code, people can receive deliveries, access emergency and social services, or simply help others find them.

• Easy to remember and share by the citizen (3QRX+VW is easier to remember than the geographic coordinates of your address: -34.90781147171839, -56.20013175020058).
• Universal and versatile. Universal grid based on the Earth coordinate system. The code represents an area whose resolution can be changed by adding or removing characters after the "+" sign.
• Free of charge. Using the open location code is free of charge, as it is based on an open algorithm that can be generated by any system.

The idea is not to replace one system with another, but to make them complementary. Like the postal code, where in other countries it is part of the address and determines a very limited area of the territory, the open location code could be used as a complement to the traditional address.

In cases where there is no standardized traditional address or where it has not yet been made official by the departmental boards, the open location code could be used as the official address.
Example of the proposed combined address system: Santiago de Liniers 1280, Montevideo, 3QRX+VW