What3Words Going Mainstream?

[dodgy]

No, I'm just trying to understand. I'm not setting this up as some kind of "fanboy" slagging match.

I'm not suggesting that it doesn't work. Just that I can't see how it is better than the alternative.

Ok, sorry. I've got no skin in the game either way. I do know it does work though. I live in the sticks, I've tried texting satellite images of our house with our house circled, precise grid co-ordinates, postcode and house number, detailed directions (left at pub, right at war memorial etc), But the only thing so far that seems absolutely fool proof is w3w.

 

[BoldonLad]

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.

Have not actually used it, but, isn't it simply a different way of specifying latitude and longitude? ie, basically, replace the number with words?

If it ain't broken, don't fix it springs to mind

 

[dodgy]

Have not actually used it, but, isn't it simply a different way of specifying latitude and longitude? ie, basically, replace the number with words?

If it ain't broken, don't fix it springs to mind

Think of w3w as DNS for IP addresses. It's the reason why we all remember cyclechat.net instead of 104.26.1.73
Also, I think you have a lot more confidence in the general public's ability to understand latitude and longitude than I do.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Have not actually used it, but, isn't it simply a different way of specifying latitude and longitude? ie, basically, replace the number with words?

If it ain't broken, don't fix it springs to mind

OTOH do you think that the 'average' person knows how to get those, even from Google Maps? (I didn't, until I looked it up on Google itself!) Oh, and they have, IIRC, 6 places of decimals.

The average person can read 3 words.

 

[dodgy]

OTOH do you think that the 'average' person knows how to get those, even from Google Maps? (I didn't, until I looked it up on Google itself!) Oh, and they have, IIRC, 6 places of decimals.

The average person can read 3 words.

I think Bonefish gets it.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Ok, sorry. I've got no skin in the game either way. I do know it does work though. I live in the sticks, I've tried texting satellite images of our house with our house circled, precise grid co-ordinates, postcode and house number, detailed directions (left at pub, right at war memorial etc), But the only thing so far that seems absolutely fool proof is w3w.

You wait until Aunty Mildred drives through the wall of the lounge

 

[Dogtrousers]

Ok, sorry. I've got no skin in the game either way. I do know it does work though. I live in the sticks, I've tried texting satellite images of our house with our house circled, precise grid co-ordinates, postcode and house number, detailed directions (left at pub, right at war memorial etc), But the only thing so far that seems absolutely fool proof is w3w.

In that scenario, here's what I'd do (Android/Google specific.)
Go to Google Maps
Long press on location
Click share
Choose messages (if you want to text) or emal, whatsapp etc
Choose your recipient and it will send a google maps hyperlink
Here's an example - just did it with Trafalgar Square

London​

https://maps.app.goo.gl/3JsVEXyme539e14W7​

The recipient clicks the link and can get directions from wherever they are (W3W won't help with directions)

My reservation is that it seems to be a GREAT solution if you need to get some co-ordinates out of computer A put them into a human short term memory for a bit, and then get that human to enter it into computer B. What I can't get past is that it will always be better to get the two computers to talk to each other. You can nearly always reformulate the communication chain to avoid the human brain bit.

The DNS analogy is very good. (But is gets flawed when you take it too far ... so I won't ... oh go on then: DNS enables a domain to be represented by lots of ever changing IPs. W3W is one to one)

I'm still unconvinced of the need for such a DNS. Why put the information into short term memory in the first place?

But I think I'll leave it there. I've made my doubts clear.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

I find the what3words concept interesting but its random word nature makes it less useful than a sequential system would be. For example, using a sexagesimal (base 60) counting system it would be possible to do the same thing by simply numbering each square sequentially. In this way, a look at the number in question would give one a rough idea of where it was on the face of the earth so long as one knew a few specific squares such as one's own home, a relative in Australia and a friend in Canada.

Using a 0–59 character set such as the following:
§ a A b B c C d D e E f F g G h H j J k K m M n N p P q Q r R s S t T u U v V w W x X y Y z Z @ € £ $ ^ & ~ < > ; : ! ?
the nine digit number ????????? would be more than enough to cover the earth, vastly improving on the economy of notation of what3words. So if your front door happened to be §§§PsMj<e you would know that §§§PsMPq> would be within about a kilometre of you.

Interestingly, the Babylonians got there first. Their sexagesimal counting system would have rendered ????????? as:
𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝-𒐐𒐝
Great astronomers that they were, their maths was well suited to vast numbers. It is a wonder they did not invent the bicycle too.

 

[Badger_Boom]

Think of w3w as DNS for IP addresses. It's the reason why we all remember cyclechat.net instead of 104.26.1.73
Also, I think you have a lot more confidence in the general public's ability to understand latitude and longitude than I do.

But they don’t need to understand it, just read some numbers off a screen.

As for W3W, some emergency service providers have questioned its reliability.

 

[dodgy]

But they don’t need to understand it, just read some numbers off a screen.

As for W3W, some emergency service providers have questioned its reliability.

Again, think DNS, which was literally invented to help humans make sense of series of numbers. You use it every day.
Try an experiment, pick the least IT literate member of your family or group of friends and ask them to tell you their latitude and longitude right now. Then imagine them doing that after they've fallen off a cliff, broken their leg on a walk or whatever.
And yes, I know there have been problems with it, I'm just saying that in my experience it works very well.

 

[dodgy]

If anyone here has worked in IT, they'll understand this thread very well indeed. The frustration that the person on the phone doesn't understand you, but to you it's easy!

 

[Edwardoka]

Think of w3w as DNS for IP addresses. It's the reason why we all remember cyclechat.net instead of 104.26.1.73
Also, I think you have a lot more confidence in the general public's ability to understand latitude and longitude than I do.

I'm trying to work out whether I like or hate this analogy. On the one hand it is a clear parallel, short textual representation of seemingly meaningless numbers.

OTOH it's nothing like DNS, domain names are intrinsically meaningful, and IP addresses are differently meaningful (you can tell a lot aout the infrastructure with just an IP address.)

w3w names are completely arbitrary and meaningless.
If you could register a w3w address (and let's be honest, assuming their app isn't just glomming all your user data and selling it to advertisers, this is the only way their business model could generate revenue) then the comparison would make more sense. delicious.pizza.rolls anyone?

In the event it takes off, it could theoretically replace traditional addressing. I can't speak to anyone else but I'm not comfortable with the idea of a private company in charge of a closed-source addressing system for the entire world.

Like that time those scumbags at Verisign literally broke the internet by redirecting all requests for unregistered .com and .net domains to their own "site finder" app.

 

[dodgy]

I don't think this thread is worth the time we're all spending on it on a sunny Saturday. Later folks!

 

[Badger_Boom]

Again, think DNS, which was literally invented to help humans make sense of series of numbers. You use it every day.
Try an experiment, pick the least IT literate member of your family or group of friends and ask them to tell you their latitude and longitude right now. Then imagine them doing that after they've fallen off a cliff, broken their leg on a walk or whatever.
And yes, I know there have been problems with it, I'm just saying that in my experience it works very well.

I agree about Lat/Long in the UK. We have a much simpler National Grid system, and a simple OS app that will give you an accurate and unique location to within 10m also without the need for a 5G signal.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

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

If I ask Google Maps for a bike route from Land's End to John O'Groats, it sends me along the A30, the A38, and a series of unrideable canal towpaths... so maybe not the most flattering of comparisons.