the city's addressing system is best understood in terms of a cartesian coordinate system with its origin at the capitol. while the system may appear complex, once learned it allows one to pinpoint not only where one is but also where and how far one may need to travel. for example, if one needed to find 633 a street se, the address informs that the address is southeast of the capitol, with a street one block south of east capitol street, and that the location on that street is on the 600 block, which is between 6th street and 7th street se.