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What3Words

besserheimerphat

besserheimerphat

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
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Mount Vernon, WA
This is an awesome idea. It plots a 3m x 3m grid over the entire globe, and then gives each square a unique three word phrase. Because three word phrases are very easy to instantly remember and recall with near perfect accuracy, it is now easy for anyone to identify exactly where they are in the world without knowing the lat/long or having an exact address.

What3Words
 
Interesting Idea but 3x3 is WAY too small. In fact, so small that it really makes me wonder about their intentions.
 
Doesn't seem to make sense to me. For example, the three-word description is rather meaningless unless associated with an "address" for the 3x3 square. Isn't the true innovation a tagging of addresses with a uniform 3x3 system rather than the names themselves?

If trying to locate a specific place names "FTH" (as given above), you would need to know which "FTH" since there are likely to be thousands. Thus, it is really the uniform system of tagging the 3x3 squares, not the naming of them that is the contribution.
 
Nope. Doesn't make sense that you'd have no relation to the square next to you, like a common street name.
 
One section of my house sounds like the police report from an interesting evening: Courtrooms.Jugglers.Nightclubs
 
Cycsk said:
Doesn't seem to make sense to me. For example, the three-word description is rather meaningless unless associated with an "address" for the 3x3 square. Isn't the true innovation a tagging of addresses with a uniform 3x3 system rather than the names themselves?

If trying to locate a specific place names "FTH" (as given above), you would need to know which "FTH" since there are likely to be thousands. Thus, it is really the uniform system of tagging the 3x3 squares, not the naming of them that is the contribution.
Click to expand...

Behind the scenes each 3 word phrase is linked to a lat/long. But if you're talking to a buddy on the phone about where you caught a bunch of walleyes at Saylorville, all he has to do is remember "laces botch cones" and that will point him to a pretty specific part of the reservoir. Is it easier for you to remember "laces botch cones" or 41.741803, -93.701339 when you're sitting in your boat?

The point isn't to describe a building address with a phrase, it's to find a fairly specific part of the globe using something that is easy for humans to remember and communicate verbally. Another thing they did was to put vast distances between similar terms for easy error identification. So while "laces botch cones" is part of Saylorville, "lace botch cones" is somewhere near the Black Hills. Much easier to catch a mistake than transposing numbers somewhere in the last 6 decimal points of a lat/long coordinate.

** Edit: I don't know if this is a good place to catch walleye at Saylorville, I just used it as an example.
 
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Mongolia is officially adopting this system for its mail. With a large nomadic population and most of its roads unnamed, it makes sense for them when delivering mail to remote locations. The United Nations has already integrated the idea into a disaster reporting app, allowing people to identify locations where help is needed or hazards are to be avoided/removed in remote places with no formal address. A UK courier service has also used it to find remote locations within Great Britain, which may be a mile or more away from the center of the postal code, to reduce first-attempt delivery errors by 83%. It works with the Navmii navigation/mapping software too - enter a 3 word location identifier, and Navmii will provide turn-by-turn directions to that location.

http://qz.com/705273/mongolia-is-changing-all-its-addresses-to-three-word-phrases/
 
if i am on vacation and someone kidnaps me how i am supposed to know the three words of my location without stopping to look it up every 5 steps i take? maybe i don't understand the point of this?
 
I still can't figure out what problem they're trying to solve. I don't remember my home's lat/long, but I don't know how I'd remember a bunch of random words for each place I go.

If they're claiming lat/long takes up too much memory, couldn't you just round them off? Whatever decimal place is equivalent to a 3m grid?
 
NickTheGreat said:
I still can't figure out what problem they're trying to solve. I don't remember my home's lat/long, but I don't know how I'd remember a bunch of random words for each place I go.

If they're claiming lat/long takes up too much memory, couldn't you just round them off? Whatever decimal place is equivalent to a 3m grid?
Click to expand...

if we are stationary we describe the place we are. if we are moving then neither the lat/long nor this helps us. good point.
 
Guy 1: "I'm new to town, where's the closest Hy-Vee to here"
Guy 2: "Oh, it just down there at phone peanut monitor."
Guy 1: "Helpful.... Thanks..."
 
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