What3Words Going Mainstream?

[Lovacott]

I know the What3Words app is somewhat sneered at by traditional geo location users, but lately, I have seen more and more people using it.

The main attraction seems to be its level of accuracy over traditional postcode methods of sat nav destination setting and the simplicity of use.

I've started using it and TBH, I find it brilliant and you could teach a two year old to use it in ten seconds.

It's level of simplicity and novel approach to location naming, will take it into mainstream use.

It's one hell of a contrast to the days when I was was working for a utility in London trying to pinpoint my location on an OS map.

Sure, What3Words is an attempt to monetize mapping but isn't that exactly what Google did with Google Maps?

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I think it's inspired.

As you say, there are vehement debates from those who use different methods

 

[Milkfloat]

They are certainly advertising heavily, but I am not sure how mainstream it is. I tried using it after dialling 999 for an ambulance and the ambulance service I got put through to could not use it. Although to be fair, the ambulance did not make it to me when I gave them an exact OS location, I had to go running down the road in cleats to find them very lost. There are a few major issues with W3W.
1. Because of their commercial bent you cannot download the database of words. Therefore if you don’t have a phone signal you cannot get a location. This means that if you have an injured party where there is no signal, you cannot get a the words and then hike out to where you get a signal and pass the location on.
2. They use plurals in different places around the world, so for example sausages may be in the UK, but sausage is in Australia, you could be sending emergency services to completely the wrong area.
3. The words in different languages are often very archaic, my French colleagues report that the words used are not words they have ever heard of, this means mistakes can be made.
4. As you may have worked out by number 3, there are multiple sets of words for each location in the world, a set for each supported language.
5. because it is commercial, emergency services have to pay a pretty high fee to use the system, money that could be well spent elsewhere.

 

[annedonnelly]

I can certainly see the attraction but I'm a bit cautious after the person I was with didn't understand and couldn't pronounce one of the three words that popped up. He was a lot older than two but his level of literacy meant that the word was unfamiliar to him. I'm not saying that he'd be any better with a postcode or a grid ref but we just need to be aware that things we find simple aren't accessible to everyone.

 

[midlife]

I guess you have seen some of the smutty ones

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I guess you have seen some of the smutty ones

Sounds like a job for @Fnaar

 

[aferris2]

Therefore if you don’t have a phone signal you cannot get a location.

No. You can get a location without a phone signal. Did it many times in Australia.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

the ambulance service I got put through to could not use it.

Horses for courses I suspect but the paramedic in the ambulance I got picked up in suggested using it to me.

@Milkfloat has some good points. Apparently some of those singles/plurals can be several kms apart too which may be quite a way by road. Australia is easily filtered out but not the latter.

 

[Milkfloat]

No. You can get a location without a phone signal. Did it many times in Australia.

Ahh great, I just looked it up, they added that capability just over a year ago. That fixes a very big negative.

 

[weareHKR]

W3W How it works!

 

[aferris2]

My wife used W3W when she had to call Green Flag out. She started off saying which parade of shops and the town she was at, but they couldn't work out where she was. Then she suggested W3W to which the reply was "That's great. Be with you in 15 minutes"

 

[oldwheels]

I can certainly see the attraction but I'm a bit cautious after the person I was with didn't understand and couldn't pronounce one of the three words that popped up. He was a lot older than two but his level of literacy meant that the word was unfamiliar to him. I'm not saying that he'd be any better with a postcode or a grid ref but we just need to be aware that things we find simple aren't accessible to everyone.

Depends on where you live perhaps how necessary it is. In my case there can be no doubt of my home location by post code and street number.
We were given a bit of wood with W3W by some car club and I think most people dumped them as just some publicity stunt. I have tried the one I was given and could not find the correct location and there appeared to be multiple choices for my home address.
I would not like to rely on it for myself anyway. It is also a commercial venture and not entirely altruistic.

 

[Lovacott]

I guess you have seen some of the smutty ones

I spent a good bit of yesterday walking around our site looking for smutty word combinations.

Found plenty.

This is why it will find itself in mainstream use.

 

[Drago]

It never recekved universal acclaim from the emrgency services and SAR teams, and those that did are starting to drop it for a couple of reasons. Ultimately it does nothing that a lat and long doesn't, and occasionally doesn't even do that. I certainly don't use it.

 

[Lovacott]

Depends on where you live perhaps how necessary it is.

Postcode and house number takes you bang on to my front door but where I work, the postcode takes you half a mile away.

We often have artics delivering to us who overshoot the entrance and have to travel on for 15 miles before they can turn around and come back.

We started using our W3W address after being asked for it by a number of hauliers planning to do drops to us.

It's very simple to use.