N-Ways
Home codes
The Gambia already gives every property an official digital address: a Plus Code, like F8HC+9G6 Bakau. It finds your gate to within a few metres, but it is hard to say on the phone and harder to remember. From 20 October 2026, every compound in the country also has a home code you can say: 471,030 of them, in all seven regions, Banjul and Kanifing.
What a home code is
A home code is the name of your town, village or neighbourhood and a short number. Bakau 2389 is said “Bakau, twenty-three, eighty-nine”, two pairs, the way phone numbers are said. Smaller places get three digits, bigger ones five: Banjul 19 474. The name in the code is never longer than 12 characters and two words, so Brusubi Phase 1 is simply Brusubi 1; the full name still works when typed.
The code belongs to the whole compound and leads to its gate, not to the middle of a roof. A family compound with several houses, a kitchen and a store has one code.
Your Plus Code stays your official address
The government chose Plus Codes as The Gambia’s digital address in 2023, and N-Ways keeps them exactly as they are. Every N-Ways card shows the government’s Plus Code first, as the official address, with your home code beside it. Both lead to the same gate: give whichever is easier. Where your council has numbered your door, that street address comes first of all.
One code, one place, in the whole country
Many names repeat: there is a Brikama in four regions, and many Sanchabas and Madinas. So every place with the same name shares one national range of numbers, one block each. Brikama 1001 is in Central River and Brikama 7042 in West Coast, and neither needs the region after it. Spellings fold together too: Serrekunda and Serre Kunda, Kerr and Keur are one name.
How to get yours
- Open N-Ways at home and tap Get my code. The app finds the compound you are standing in and shows its home code and its Plus Code.
- Not at home? Find your compound on the map and tap it, or drop a pin on it.
- Share it in one tap, on WhatsApp or by text. Paint it on the gate if you like.
Every code starts provisional and becomes confirmed when the people who live there agree in the app that it is right. A house too new to be on the map gets a code on the spot. Codes never change and are never given to another home.
What a home code is not
- Not your official address. That is the government’s Plus Code, shown first.
- Not a land title. It proves neither ownership nor the right to occupy a plot.
- Not about people. A code describes a place. No names of residents are stored with it.
Open for developers
The model, the engine and the registry of every home code are open on GitHub, each with its Plus Code. Couriers, banks, shops and public services can decode home codes in their own systems, offline if they need to. The research paper explains every rule.