Sherab Lhamo
Finding an address in Thimphu is quite often a nightmare, involving a lot of guesswork to navigate the city, relying on uncanny landmarks like choetens, mani dungkors, and sometimes even huge rocks and trees for directions.
But this is soon going to be a thing of the past with the introduction of the City Addressing System (CAS) by Thimphu Thromde. The CAS promises to make navigating the city a lot easier and straightforward.
Integrated with Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Apple Maps, Thimphu’s new addressing system allows users to easily locate buildings using precise addresses. This means getting around Thimphu, or receiving a package or a pizza, will no longer require additional navigation instructions.
With CAS, addresses will include the building number, street name, quadrant (e.g. Southeast), locality, and city. “For example, the address for the Thimphu Thromde office is 220 Gongdzin Lam Southeast, Norzin, Thimphu. This detailed format ensures that services like deliveries are straightforward and hassle-free,” said a thromde official.
The CAS is based on a ‘street-house’ concept, with numbers starting from the city centre and increasing outward to accommodate future expansion of the city. The central intersection of primary streets—Doebum Lam (North), Doebum Lam (South), Chhugo Lam (East), and Throri Lam (West)—serves as the reference point for this system.
“The CAS is fundamental to any thromde and is specifically relevant for use in today’s digital environment where addresses could be readily located for a variety of purposes especially emergency service response,” the thromde official said.
The official added that CAS makes navigating the city more user-friendly, eases the delivery of emergency services, and helps reporting location-based complaints and issues. “As Thimphu continues to grow rapidly, CAS is essential for efficient functioning of the city.”
The CAS geodatabase includes reserved numbers in vacant plots for upcoming buildings. Through CAS, thromde has also revived locality names to enhance its historical significance.
The thromde official explained that CAS is a continuous process and new building numbers and street names will be regularly updated in the system, with the Thromde managing the database on-site to ensure quality and accuracy.
The CAS will also integrate with the Audit Resource Management System and new Occupancy Certificates will be issued to ease service delivery and revenue collection.
The Thimphu Thromde recently completed the street signage installation at a cost of Nu 4.8 million.
The GIS section under the Urban Planning Division of Thimphu Thromde developed the CAS. Since its completion in 2022, the Thromde has been issuing addresses based on the new system and has recently added street signage to assist in navigation.
Thromde will soon be notifying the public to install building numbers outside the building, helping to navigate specific building.