Every compound in Guinea-Bissau now has a code

In Guinea-Bissau almost no home has an address a courier, a taxi or an ambulance can use: postcodes exist on paper only, and in the whole country just two houses on the map carry a door number. From 20 October 2026, every morança, every yard and every house in the country has an N-Ways code: 241,674 of them, in all 39 sectors, from the Bijagós islands to the Boé.

What a code is

A code is the name of your bairro, town or tabanca and a short number. Bandim 537 is said “Bandim, five hundred and thirty-seven”, or in Portuguese “Bandim, quinhentos e trinta e sete”. Small tabancas get one- or two-digit numbers, the big bairros of Bissau up to five: Bissau Velho 345, Gabu 1203, Bubaque 501. The name in the code is never longer than 12 characters and two words: Missirá Ama Sidi is simply Ama Sidi, and 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 morança with several houses, a kitchen and a granary has one code.

One code, one place, in the whole country

Many names repeat: there is a Missirá in thirteen sectors and many Bambadincas. So every place with the same name shares one national range of numbers, one block each. Missira 101 is in Bissau and Missirá 5101 in Sonaco, and neither needs the sector after it. Spellings fold together too: Sintchã and Sinchã, Plack and Plaque, Bissorã and Bissora are one name.

On a plate or a form it is written simply Bandim 537. There is nothing else to remember or type.

How to get yours

1. Open N-Ways at home and tap Get my code. The app finds the compound you are in and shows its code.
2. Not at home? Find your compound on the map and tap it, or drop a pin on it.
3. 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.

Get my code

What about the postcode?

Guinea-Bissau has a four-digit postcode format, but only 1000 BISSAU is attested. In Bissau, N-Ways shows it beside the code as context. If Correios or the government publish postcodes or an address register, N-Ways shows them first, as written.

What a code is not

• Not an official address. It is an N-Ways address, built to be handed to the state if it wants it.
• 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 code are open on GitHub. Couriers, banks, shops and public services can decode codes in their own systems, offline if they need to. The research paper explains every rule, with the mathematics behind it.