3words to find you

[chumley]

No more confusing numbers, minutes, seconds, degrees, utms, directions, magnets, celestial bodies, etc. Just three words.

Interesting concept. Anybody here think this is the future? I don't think it's currently supported in RE or RS, but it is used in a number of other digital mapping products. I noticed that AZ State Parks has signage that encourages hikers to use this location method.

Will HAZ hike descriptions change to "start at page.inner.twin, pass the bench at narrow.scout.boxer, and keep climbing until you reach the summit at monks.sunset.link"!!?

w3w.co

[xsproutx]

@chumley I think it’s an interesting and good idea in some scenarios but don’t think it passes the “reality” test. At the end of the day. if someone is trying to send someone else a somewhat precise location, they’re going to use an app to determine their location, and then copy/paste to the target person. Whether that’s numbers or words, the effort is the same basically, so what’s the Bennie here?

Edit: I think I see the value/what they’re trying to do now. Targeted towards drone delivery if I had to guess the end target. That makes a little more sense to me, but not a bunch. Typical tech stuff

[CannondaleKid]

I see great potential... maybe deliveries will make it to my front door instead of being left in plain sight in the carport.

Will HAZ hike descriptions change to 'w3w'... (or at the least for the individual trailhead locations?)

Since HAZ features SO MANY hikes, only if someone has a LOT of time on their hands.
So Chumley, are you a willing volunteer?

However... I'm not sure if that would fall within the allowable use per the w3w 'Terms and Conditions'

11.4. if you are a consumer user:
(a) please note that we provide the what3words Products to you only for domestic and private use and not for any commercial or business purposes.

[FOTG]

@chumley
I don't get it.

[LindaAnn]

@friendofThundergod Good, that means you’re relatively normal.

[chumley]

that means you’re relatively old

fixed for ya.

[rcorfman]

So where will, "Lets Go Brandon" be?

[rcorfman]

The big issue is there is no easy way to find out where you are. Also, if someone says, "I'm at diamond brick concrete", I have absolutely no idea where that may be. If they give me coordinates, I can reasonably guess the direction they're at and even roughly the distance - at least if I know what coordinate system they are using.

[rcorfman]

FYI, diamond.brick.concrete is at N72° 57.084' W122° 04.169', on Banks Island, Northwest Territories.

[FOTG]

@chumley
Probably a little of both lol. But I genuinely do not get it.

My suspicions are its some sort of "hack" for gumbies to get around in the wilderness and figure out where they are without actually learning the fundamentals and basics of navigation in the wild. As with my things in life, the skills associated with safe responsible travel in the wild, are not in need of any "hacks" or shortcuts (no pun intended).

Wanna get around in the wild safely? Learn how to read a map, learn land navigation, learn how a GPS works and learn how to operate a compass. Its a simple as that. This seems like just another example of dummying down outdoor rec for the influx of LCDs.

[chumley]

@friendofThundergod
Yeah in a nutshell it lays a 3-meter grid across the entire planet and each square is assigned what you recognize to be a "waypoint". Rather than using Hank's waypoint naming system, every one of these waypoints across the planet is given a unique identifier consisting of three words.

I agree with rcorfman though in that with no relationship to the terms I can't even guess a proximity to where a waypoint is. It's not like points that are in the 34°N all contain the same word, or words that start with the same letter, or some other logical relationship.

[Pivo]

@chumley
Chumley's personal three location words are I Hate People, or possibly, I stir pumpkin

[The_Eagle]

@chumley
So will the entire world need to learn English to use this system? Or will there be Spanish, German, Chinese and Swahili versions also?

[xsproutx]

@The_Eagle
They claim it's in 47 languages which I suppose is easy enough/possible since they're not making sentences. Bet there are still a bunch of "dirty" words in some of those, though, as they say the word lists are scrubbed by humans to remove words that might be controversial/problematic

[chumley]

I wonder where ///pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin is!?

[The_Eagle]

@chumley
I'm assuming in a dark hole close to you.

[CannondaleKid]

I wonder where ///pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin is!?

What, you haven't checked it out yet?
It is "near Bekasi, West Java" just east of Jakarta Bay, Indonesia.

[azbackpackr]

Speaking of pumpkin, Happy Thanksgiving! (Although I am pleased to say, it's homemade apple pie here in Florida where I am, not pumpkin pumpkin pie.) Anyway, have a great day friends, (and pumpkin other people reading this!) callahan.florida.pumpkinless

[eru]

It's useful for non-frequent / casual users to explain where they are vs reading off long and lat, WGS84 vs NAD27, standard vs nautical, etc that SAR will ask for. It's also less likely to have a number misheard over a patchy signal or something.

I don't think it'll replace long/lat for more advanced/technical use due to the point others have brought up of not having any sense of relative distance between points, but it's a good thing to have out there.

[rcorfman]

but it's a good thing to have out there.

Why is that? Frankly W3W has been around for several years now and, as far as I can tell, hasn't gained any traction. The only use I've seen for it is in geocaching for a simple puzzle to find the coordinates for a geocache.