OK, my phone is already tracking me more than I really want, no matter how many times not to track my location.  But I admit that every once in a while I might need to report my location, e.g., when I dial 911. Puny Carbon base lifeforms like me don't always know how to tell you exactly where we are.

Even digital location—that I tried to disable multiple times—isn't necessarily good at locating in human terms.  GPS might tell you a position in space (though it doesn't work indoors or underground), but that may or may not be accurately connected to a street map.  We've all had a laugh at the crazy directions digital assistants come up with.   And there are plenty of places that don't have any conventional address, such as the middle of a parking lot or swimming pool. 

So you and your mobile device may not be able to give good directions to where you are.

But, hey!  There's an app for that, now.

What3Words is a strange but interesting service. They have gridded world in 3 meter squares, and assigned unique identifiers to each box.  That's been done before. 

But the new thing is that What3Words identifiers are in the form of word triplets, something like 'tango.foxtrot.ubangi'.  The idea is that for human communication saying three words is more reliable than reeling off 20 digit lat-long or GPS coordinates.

Steve Shankland reports this month on an example of what this is good for: the LA fire department is using this service to identify locations in the city [1]. These locations are far more precise that a block or even street number and cover the whole city, not just street addresses. And as noted, the English (or Spanish or whatever) words are something that can be reliably communicated by humans.

How precise is it?  Glancing at the map, I see that my own little yard has about 100 uniquely name blocks.  So I could potentially call for help and tell them whether to find me in the garage, the driveway, the back yard, or inside the house.  In fact, it looks like it can tell which part of the house.

Cool.

And it's covers places that don't really have addresses.  So I can tell you that later on today, if the rain lets up, I'll probably sit in the park and read for a while on the bench near "fool.tinsel.tidy". 

: - )

  1. Stephen Shankland, Lost in LA? Fire department can find you with What3words location technology, in cNet, July 22, 2021. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/lost-in-la-fire-department-can-find-you-with-what3words-location-technology/