What 3 Words

Ice Tea

Ice Tea

Ice Tea

Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2004
Posts
4,955
Wasn't this supposed to revolutionise the world?

I rarely hear about it and i still come across people that have never heard of it.
 
Ice Tea said:
Wasn't this supposed to revolutionise the world?

I rarely hear about it and i still come across people that have never heard of it.
Click to expand...

When I did my first aid course they were raving about it, work briefly dallied with it but it really isn't that useful as a replacement for day to day stuff - has huge potential in emergency situations but only if it had bigger uptake.
 
I still think it's a neat idea, but 9 times out of 10 it's easier to use Google maps. Just drop a pin and share that. What3words is more useful when you're in the middle of nowhere and/or in an emergency situation, neither of which are particularly common scenarios.
 
Rroff said:
When I did my first aid course they were raving about it, work briefly dallied with it but it really isn't that useful as a replacement for day to day stuff - has huge potential in emergency situations but only if it had bigger uptake.
Click to expand...

I thought emergency services did use it?

NotAGolf said:
I still think it's a neat idea, but 9 times out of 10 it's easier to use Google maps. Just drop a pin and share that. What3words is more useful when you're in the middle of nowhere and/or in an emergency situation, neither of which are particularly common scenarios.
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Yeah for most of the public google maps will always be choice of preference. I can't really think of a usecase where you would use W3W in those situations. If you were going somewhere new a destination of tulip burger fireplace wouldn't really be helpful.

It's a shame Google never acquired the company, or at least integrated them into their mapping software.
 
I literally installed W3W this morning as I'm off on a 75 mile bike ride and there is the potential my freehub might break again. I figured I could give my location to a cab company... even if they don't have it when I call, surely it's quite easy if I say, "please look up 'badger, shed, cucumber' on What 3 Words". Of course, they might then think I'm some weird prank call and hang up...
 
Pretty sure I heard a courier company are using it now and can guarantee your parcel will be lobbed over the correct fence, or onto the right roof.

I use mine when out kayaking, mountain biking, military or urban exploring and is also good tool for dropping quick locations and notes + emergency services (Just Eat :cry: )
 
I've used it for an ambulance, didn't really help much. Resorted to post code and directions, but it did sound like the operator was new.

They asked for it too.
 
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My car was broken into a couple of months back when parked at one of the local train stations, the British Transport Police asked for the what 3 words location of where it was parked. That's the only time I've ever used it I think.
 
The park next to me has W3W printed next to all the life ring buoys adjacent to the lakes. Never come across anybody who's fallen in so not had a chance to test the emergency services with it yet.
 
Ice Tea said:
Wasn't this supposed to revolutionise the world?

I rarely hear about it and i still come across people that have never heard of it.
Click to expand...

Last I heard about it was that there were location clashes which made it unusable in actual emergencies. I assume they fixed that though.
 
Great for geocaching, adds a level of survivability to it. A bit like tying knots did to scouts.



Hahaha nerds.
 
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I still remember the 3 words for the office of a charity I work with. Relay Facing Tiger.

And that is the only instance I know in 10 years. They moved about 5 years ago!
 
OK i looked it up.

It works here but being all in English i guess its not that great outside of USA UK Aussieland etc.

edit: yes i saw how to switch languages. :P
ok its pretty cool i guess.
 
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Ice Tea said:
Wasn't this supposed to revolutionise the world?

I rarely hear about it and i still come across people that have never heard of it.
Click to expand...

I honestly use it loads of times.
Only last week I gave my drummer a What3Words to get him straight to the door he loads into the venue.
Also last week me and my wife went in separate directions in Liverpool and to find each other she gave me her What3Words.

HOWEVER I tell you what really pee's me off, me and the wife watch loads of these Air Ambulance series and I mean every one, and I have never heard them reference What3Words to find somebody and we always mention it when they get lost.
 
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Ice Tea said:
Wasn't this supposed to revolutionise the world?
Click to expand...

There were some flaws with it like a very similar-sounding word being misheard which is a bit dumb:

cybergibbons.com

Why What3Words is not suitable for safety critical applications

What3Words is a widely promoted system that is used for sharing a location using just three words. For example, ///wedge.drill.mess is located in Hyde Park.The globe is divided into 3m squares, eac…
cybergibbons.com
I initially believed that What3Words prevented simple mistakes causing errors; it wasn’t until a friend found two addresses under 10 miles apart that I considered that this might not be true. I decided to look into it.
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Over 75% of What3Words addresses contain words that can be confused in this way.

What3Words themselves said that “people confuse plurals only about 5% of the time when hearing them read out loud”. That gives an overall chance that a What3Words address is confused 1 in 27 times!
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It's not just those 5% of plurals either, he's listed other similar-sounding words that they use too and which could easily be confused with each other.
 
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