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Digital Pata / How it works

From a door-to-door survey to a plate on the wall

A Digital Pata is not generated from a spreadsheet. Every code is backed by a surveyor who stood at that gate, took a photograph and recorded the coordinates.

At the property

Three stages at every door

This is what happens at a single property. The section below covers how a whole city gets sequenced.

1

Survey & Numbering

Visit the property → give a unique number
  • The survey team visits each property in person.
  • Each property is given a unique number in sequence.
  • Property details are collected through the Survey App.
2

DDN Plate & QR Code

Fix the plate → add details → activate QR
  • Teams carry pre-printed plates with blank QR codes.
  • The plate is fixed on the property in the assigned sequence.
  • Property details are linked to the QR through the Survey App.
  • Once the information is in, the QR is activated.
3

QR-Based Digital Services

Scan the QR → access digital services
  • The active QR becomes the digital identity of the property.
  • Anyone scanning it reaches the information and services linked to that property.
  • The full service list is on the services page.
End to end

The full chain

  • Survey
  • Number
  • Plate
  • Property Data
  • QR Activation
  • Digital Services
Across the city

Six steps, ward by ward

A city is covered one ward at a time so that verification stays manageable and issues surface early.

  1. Step 1

    Plan the ward

    The corporation picks a ward and shares its boundary, colony list and existing property register. Routes are divided between survey teams so no street is visited twice.

  2. Step 2

    Survey and geo-tag

    A surveyor visits each property with a mobile app, captures a photo of the entrance, records GPS coordinates and notes the property type, usage and occupier details. The app works offline and syncs later.

  3. Step 3

    Verify at the office

    Ward staff review each submission on a dashboard — duplicate entries, coordinates that fall outside the ward and missing photographs are sent back for correction before anything is issued.

  4. Step 4

    Issue the code and QR

    Once approved, the property receives its Digital Door Number and a QR that resolves to its own microsite. Both are permanent; the page behind the QR can be updated without reprinting anything.

  5. Step 5

    Print and affix the plate

    Plates are printed in batches per street and fixed near the entrance in the presence of the occupier, who is shown how to scan it and what the page contains.

  6. Step 6

    Keep it alive

    Scan counts, complaints and payment activity flow back into the dashboard. Departments add new services to the page over time, so the same plate keeps getting more useful.

Responsibilities

Who does what

The corporation

  • Approves ward boundaries and the survey schedule
  • Verifies every surveyed property before a code is issued
  • Decides which services appear on the microsite
  • Publishes officer contacts and ward notices
  • Owns the data and the dashboard

The resident

  • Confirms basic property details during the visit
  • Allows the plate to be fixed near the entrance
  • Keeps the plate visible and undamaged
  • Reports a wrong detail so the ward office can correct it
  • Pays nothing — the survey and the plate are free
Scope

What a rollout includes

The ten deliverables that make up a Digital Pata programme, from the first survey visit to the database handed over at the end.

  1. Conduct a door-to-door survey of every property and collect its basic information
  2. Identify and map all properties within the covered areas
  3. Assign a unique digital address to each premises
  4. Create a standardised digital addressing framework for the area
  5. Link each property with its GIS location and property details
  6. Install a QR-enabled address plate outside each property during the survey
  7. The universal QR code on the plate opens that property's dedicated microsite
  8. The microsite acts as a single digital access point that new services can join over time
  9. Those services cover both financial and non-financial transactions
  10. Deliver a centralised digital database of all premises and their attributes
Behind the scenes

The system that runs it

Survey app

Offline-first capture of photos, coordinates and property attributes, with sync when a network appears.

Property register

One record per structure, tied to a ward, a zone and a colony, with the full edit history retained.

Dashboard

Live coverage, verification backlog and scan trends by day, week or month for every ward.

Microsite builder

Staff configure the tiles, links, officers and banners a city shows — with a live preview before publishing.

Next: who benefits
Bring Digital Pata to your city

Ready to give every property a real address?

We work with municipal corporations to survey, geo-tag and issue Digital Patas at scale — and hand over a dashboard to run it afterwards.

Talk to us See the rollout