Word Addressable Hierarchical Location Language

WAHL²

(Word Addressable Hierarchical Location Language)

WAHL², an initialism of Word Addressable Hierarchical Location Language, is a structure based location language. It provides an interlinked format to describe a hierarchical structure for location based data information— by denoting data elements connected in a geometrical, hierarchical or physical structure interconnected with other relevant information or related facts (e.g. neighborhoods into cities, cities into counties, counties into states, and states into nations).

Location data linkage: General path: U#:GA:SS:PL:CN:CU:SA:CO:CI:NH:SN:ST:BU:UN:RM:SE:IT

Location data classes:

• U# - Universe #
• GA – Galaxy
• SS – Solar System
• PL – Planet
• CN - Continent
• CU – Country
• SA – State
• CO – County
• CI – City
• NH – Neighborhood
• SN - Sub-Neighborhood
• ST - Street
• BU – Building
• UN – Unit
• RM - Room
• SE – Section
• IT - Item

Locations displayed to the neighborhood level

Berkeley, California USA

Defined path: U1:MW:SS:EA:NA:US:CA:AL:BE:BH:NG:(ST:BU:UN:SE)

Example of sequenced path … (EA) Earth, (NA) North America, (US) United States, (CA) California, (AL) Alameda County, (BE) Berkeley, (BH) Berkeley Hills …

Origins: In 1994, mathematicians Bernt Wahl, and Ron Englash proposed a hierarchical structure for geographic locations based on Fractal Geometry. Since then several independent sources have built on similar location based structures: Richard Dorall [University of Malaya (2005)], Michael Cho [iMap Project - U.C, Berkeley (2006)], Richard George and Kegan Gan [Geotude (2006)], and Jeremy Irish [Groundspeak (2007)].

References:

• 1. Bernt Wahl, Peter Van Roy, Michael Larsen, and Eric Kampman Exploring Fractals on the Macintosh, Addison Wesley, 1995. ISBN 0-201-62630-6
• 2. Ron Eglash. African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 1999.
• 3. Michael Cho, iMap Project - U.C, Berkeley (2006)
• 4. Bernt Wahl, “As We May Locate” U.C. Berkeley (2006)
• 5. Richard George and Kegan Gan - Where Camp (2006), [Geotude] http://www.Geotude.com
• 6. Jeremy Irish – Where Camp (2006), [Groundspeak] http://www.Groundspeak.com