Imagine having a package delivered to the exact office building, park location, or even couch you are sitting on. Pretty convenient, right?

This may become possible with the new location system developed by what3words, an UK-based start-up. Instead of lengthy GPS-coordinates, their system allows you to select the 3m by 3m square you are (currently) located at.

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Obviously, this is convenient when, say, you are ordering a package but want to work late at the office. More than that, though, it can become essential if you live in countries where street names are a rarity or nomadic tribes exist.

It comes as no surprise that Mongolia is the first country to adopt the three-word-system for delivering mail. With just over three million inhabitants in a country almost half the size of the European Union (even without the UK), it struggled for years to reach its people with the official government mail. Helping citizens get official documents, open a bank account or start a business, is not the only reason the 100 percent state-owned Mongol Post pays what3words to use the three-word system for reaching Mongolian citizens.

logo2When you think of Mongolia, you might think of vast steppes, or horseback children tending to reindeer herds. Perhaps even colourful interiors of the typical round, one room tents (yurt or ger) they call home. This used to be the predominant image of this large country with relatively few inhabitants, but over the years, many people have relocated to the capital UIaanbaatar. From 2010 – 2015, an average of 2.78 percent moved to urban areas. That’s over 10 percent of the total population in just five years.

Now, a staggering 72 percent of this traditionally nomadic population live in urban areas. More than 1.3 million people live in UIaanbaatar, some in housing, others still in their traditional yurts around the city fringes. According to the United Nations Development Programme, this is a big change from the 1950s when only 20 percent lived in urban areas. “Unplanned growth of the capital city and rapid migration have brought many challenges, including unemployment, traffic congestion, air pollution, and the expansion of the ger areas.” Still, education and employment  have been the reasons for people to move to the big city, according to a report by Development Progress. Traditionally, there was little need for secondary education in Mongolian society, but following the discovery of many minerals, including ‘oil, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, fluorspar, gold, silver, iron’, the government needs its citizens to man the mines. This requires a more educated populace.

Industry in general brings in 34 percent of the annual GDP. And with 21 percent of people living below the poverty line in 2014, hope for a better future for their children is driving people away from a nomadic life. There have been improvements of the education system, but a lack of skills among the workforce remains a problem for the – predominantly foreign – mining companies, according to Development Progress. This demand for educated people to work in the mines, requires, in turn, improved tax collection. This is exactly what the Mongolian government has been doing, according to a 2009 World Bank report. “Improvements in tax administration have led to improved tax collection efficiency and higher revenues.”

In this light, we understand the Mongolian government’s recent decision to implement the three-word system. Simply put; by locating your citizens, you can tax them easier, then use that money to improve on the education system, and thus attract further foreign mining companies. Improved education and wealth have many benefits for a population where many live below the poverty line. But do not forget, it will also benefit the country greatly. Optimising the benefits for the country can only occur if people are steered towards jobs in the mining industry. The mining companies have lamented the lack of workers with specific skills, so the government needs to steer its three-million strong population towards those types of jobs. And nomads are unlikely to opt for a regular nine-to-five job.

INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA - AUGUST 22: A nomadic Mongolian herding family walks to find water, which will be transported on their bullock cart, on August 22, 2007, in the north of Inner Mongolia. Much of the once-green pastures of Inner Mongolia have turned into dust bowls because of drought and climate change, as well as overgrazing. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty Images)
INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA – AUGUST 22: A nomadic Mongolian herding family walks to find water, which will be transported on their bullock cart, on August 22, 2007, in the north of Inner Mongolia. Much of the once-green pastures of Inner Mongolia have turned into dust bowls because of drought and climate change, as well as overgrazing. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty Images)

Mapping people is a way to get a grip on the population and increase the output of workers with desired skills. In many countries, land maps were only introduced when a substantial market developed, as explained by James C. Scott in Seeing Like a State. “Land maps in general, and cadastral maps in particular, are designed to make the local situation legible to an outsider. For purely local purposes, a cadastral map was redundant. Everyone knew who held, say, the meadow by the river, the value of the fodder it yielded, and the feudal dues it carried; there was no need to know its precise dimensions. […] But a proper map seems to have come into use especially when a brisk market in land developed.”

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Mapping land and its population increases control and potential for appropriate taxation by the state. According to Scott, these increased state functions will only benefit the population if there is regard for their views. “The state, as I make abundantly clear, is the vexed institution which forms the basis of both our freedom and restriction. My view is that certain states, driven by Utopian plans and an authoritarian disregard for the values, desires, and objections of their subjects, are indeed a mortal threat to human well-being.” Additionally, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain a nomadic lifestyle without government support. This is because desertification and mining activities are reducing  the size of the pastures used by Mongolian nomads, and they need help to offset the consequences. Large infrastructural projects will decrease the availability of land and further limit the movements of large herds. Imagine trying to cross a highway with your herd of reindeer while fast-moving trucks transporting minerals speed by every few minutes.

I hope the Mongolian government will take the considerations of its population into account, and allow the traditional lifestyle to remain. As for you, dear reader, I can only recommend a visit to Mongolia before its nomadic culture and vast steppes become a thing of the past.