Street addresses may work fine for delivering post, but they’re not accurate enough to pinpoint building entrances, taxi drop-off points or delivery locations. What’s more, street addresses don’t exist for many places people need to find – beaches, parks, a specific telegraph pole that needs fixing… or a spot on the side of a mountain where somebody needs help.
what3words found an innovative solution: divide the world into 3 metre squares, and assign each square 3 random words (that differ for every language). It allows people to share locations with a similar accuracy to coordinates, but in a way that’s much more human-friendly.
The applications are incredibly varied: emergency services use it to locate people in need, and the UN uses it to share key locations in disaster response. It’s built into car navigation systems, such as Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi, and businesses are using it to deliver more efficiently.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle