What3words is a company that has a unique approach to mapping. It has labelled every 3m by 3m square of the planet with a unique combination of three words, such as “decorate.harmonica.aware” – the entrance to Silverstone Race Circuit. To cover the whole world what3words took pre-existing mapping and GPS data and chopped it up into 57 trillion 3m by 3m/ 10-foot-by-10-foot squares. “We’re a simple addressing system. Basically, we’ve cut the world up in a bunch of squares,” Giles Rhys Jones, what3words chief marketing officer said in an interview. “The reason we’ve done this is, while street addressing is very good in many parts of the world, it’s actually not great in most parts.” The result is a mapping system that has precise locations even for areas with no specific addresses. For example, the exact location of a hiker injured in the forest for medical personnel to find them. Other use cases include delivery services finding the location of a customer in a recreational Park or finding your friends in a crowded concert. Am additional feature of this mapping system is that it can work offline. It also solves the problem of multiple locations in a city having similar names. Jaguar Land Rover owners will be able to input these unique words into the vehicle’s infotainment system to arrive at a precise location. Existing compatible vehicles will be able to use what3words after a software-over-the-air update while new models will have it pre-installed. The automaker joins the list of car manufacturers using What3words technology, the others include Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Lamborghini, Ford, Triumph, Subaru and Lotus. However, Jaguar Land Rover will be the first to incorporate the version where drivers won’t require a data connection meaning the mapping service is always on regardless of network reception. What3words has also partnered with several nonprofit and emergency response organizations, allowing rescue teams and park services to precisely pinpoint locations.
