[TacticalCoder]

Only slightly related but at my house in rural France, at some point the way houses are numbered changed : each house now has a number which is the distance, in meters, from the beginning of the street (and probably with even/odd depending on which side of the street you're on: didn't check).

But, without asking, the authorities did install the new numbers plate on every single house. So it's all consistent, everywhere.

The official reason is if an ambulance or police car has to find a house: because previously none made sense it was hard to find (it's very sparsely populated). Now the idea is that the driver can just engage in the street and drive x meters and he'll be in front of the correct house.

I take it in Berlin there's t least something a bit related in that they have to be visible in case of an emergency (but I'm just guessing).