What Three Words

[Beduffshirl]

A few car companies are starting to use this in their NAV systems.

How long do we think before Lexus do?

[LenT]

14 minutes ago, Beduffshirl said:

A few car companies are starting to use this in their NAV systems.

How long do we think before Lexus do?

I should live so long!!!
 

My Garmin DriveSmart 65 was about the same year as my Lexus but far superior in its programmability.  And it probably still is.

But you’re absolutely right Mark.  This is an amazing location app..  Unfortunately, even if Lexus did introduce it, I doubt if Lexus NAVs of my vintage would be updatable.

[PaulWhitt20]

About Ten Years

 

 

[Herbie]

2 hours ago, Beduffshirl said:

A few car companies are starting to use this in their NAV systems.

How long do we think before Lexus do?

If your car is a more recent one with Android Auto or apple CarPlay then you can just install What3Words like any other app.

I fitted a Grom Vline 2 into my 2018 RX and go into W3W for the location but then get it to hand over to Waze for the actual navigation.

[gdamorini]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:39 PM, Beduffshirl said:

A few car companies are starting to use this in their NAV systems.

How long do we think before Lexus do?

What Three Words, in my humble opinion it's ridiculous. Don't find any logic behind it.

[Moleman]

19 minutes ago, gdamorini said:

What Three Words, in my humble opinion it's ridiculous. Don't find any logic behind it.

It is also not as good as it claims, negative reviews are threatened with legal action.

Not everything is as wonderful as the press make out.

[Harrier Man]

19 minutes ago, gdamorini said:

What Three Words, in my humble opinion it's ridiculous. Don't find any logic behind it.

The list is endless. My house is out in the sticks so I have a W3W for the junction to turn off the road, a W3W for the front door, a W3W for the shed that I give to delivery drivers dropping off parcels. If I'm walking in the hills or out on my paddle board in the sea and need emergency assistance then I can give my location within a 3 metre square. Absolutely brilliant. I hope these examples give some ideas of the benefits.

[Harrier Man]

8 minutes ago, Moleman said:

It is also not as good as it claims, negative reviews are threatened with legal action.

Not everything is as wonderful as the press make out.

From what I read, most of the concerns come from the use of similar words (sibling and siblings for example) being used, which give different locations. Some of these locations are countries apart and obvious but others are just streets apart. Granted that this is not ideal but if the user gives the wrong 3 words, they can hardly blame the recipient for going to the wrong place. Just double check your spelling and you'll find that this is a great app (I am not affiliated with W3W in any way!).

[royoftherovers]

18 minutes ago, Moleman said:

It is also not as good as it claims, negative reviews are threatened with legal action.

Not everything is as wonderful as the press make out.

Have you used it Maurice?

[ColinBarber]

22 minutes ago, Harrier Man said:

From what I read, most of the concerns come from the use of similar words (sibling and siblings for example) being used, which give different locations. Some of these locations are countries apart and obvious but others are just streets apart. Granted that this is not ideal but if the user gives the wrong 3 words, they can hardly blame the recipient for going to the wrong place. Just double check your spelling and you'll find that this is a great app (I am not affiliated with W3W in any way!).

I think the main problem is when the words are spoken, as it is easy for it to be misinterpreted. Always copy and paste the words directly if possible.

[Moleman]

29 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Have you used it Maurice?

Yes John.

[Moleman]

30 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Have you used it Maurice?

Why did I expect that response? 

[LenT]

43 minutes ago, Moleman said:

It is also not as good as it claims, negative reviews are threatened with legal action.

I wondered Maurice if this was the legal action you were referring to?

Because it has nothing to do with posting a negative review.  It's about an alleged case of copyright infringement resulting from unauthorised copying and distribution of proprietary software.

To quote this article:  In a statement, What3Words chief executive Chris Sheldrick said: “The specific incident we’ve taken action against stems from an unauthorized version of our software which was offered for distribution. This includes a set of non-trivial, proprietary binary data resources. As stated in our letter, we aren’t requesting that criticism of us or our software is taken offline.”

What3Words sent a legal threat to a security researcher for sharing an open-source alternative | TechCrunch

[gdamorini]

57 minutes ago, Harrier Man said:

The list is endless. My house is out in the sticks so I have a W3W for the junction to turn off the road, a W3W for the front door, a W3W for the shed that I give to delivery drivers dropping off parcels. If I'm walking in the hills or out on my paddle board in the sea and need emergency assistance then I can give my location within a 3 metre square. Absolutely brilliant. I hope these examples give some ideas of the benefits.

You can use GPS coordinates for this. Can also make and send a full itinerary to whoever needs to find you.

 

[Moleman]

13 minutes ago, LenT said:

I wondered Maurice if this was the legal action you were referring to?

Because it has nothing to do with posting a negative review.  It's about an alleged case of copyright infringement resulting from unauthorised copying and distribution of proprietary software.

To quote this article:  In a statement, What3Words chief executive Chris Sheldrick said: “The specific incident we’ve taken action against stems from an unauthorized version of our software which was offered for distribution. This includes a set of non-trivial, proprietary binary data resources. As stated in our letter, we aren’t requesting that criticism of us or our software is taken offline.”

What3Words sent a legal threat to a security researcher for sharing an open-source alternative | TechCrunch

Hi Len, Yes that is one of the many articles available, a simple search will find many more including the BBC.

Even that article is not as clear as you make out, read it again.

Do you accept the press release of every organisation, stating their own point of view, or do you question?

Not everyone believes the hype, there are serious questions to be addressed.

Just a different opinion.

[Herbie]

Well W3W has never let me down and I think it's brilliant.

A party of 7 or 8 of us went away for the weekend and on Saturday afternoon some people wanted to do one thing and the rest wanted to do another, so we split into two groups and said whoever finishes first, just W3W the location of the pub you're in.

It worked so well that it took us to their exact table in the beer garden of a pub.

In my experience, most problems are caused by the user(s) especially if someone reads out the three words.

As for using GPS coordinates, not many people even know what they are, let alone use them.

[LenT]

21 minutes ago, Moleman said:

Hi Len, Yes that is one of the many articles available, a simple search will find many more including the BBC.

Even that article is not as clear as you make out, read it again.

Do you accept the press release of every organisation, stating their own point of view, or do you question?

Not everyone believes the hype, there are serious questions to be addressed.

The article I found was by an outfit called TechCrunch.  It’s certainly possible that the quote by Chris Sheldrick was in a Press Release, but that claim can only be invalidated by finding an instance of the Company taking legal action for an alleged negative review prior to the article.  I don’t know if they exist, but I haven’t found one.

The first BBC item I came across was this one from 2019 citing instances in which this App was saving lives and Emergency Services were actually getting callers to download it in order that they could be rescued!

Now it may have its faults - the problem of the homophone has already been identified.  But I used to go clay shooting in isolated fields well off country lanes and would have had great difficulty directing emergency services to the location.

Like most Apps, I expect its imperfections will be eliminated in ongoing developments.  Until then, I’d rather have it available when needed then be without it.  Of course, other options may exist, but for me this is the easiest to use.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

[Moleman]

2 hours ago, LenT said:

The article I found was by an outfit called TechCrunch.  It’s certainly possible that the quote by Chris Sheldrick was in a Press Release, but that claim can only be invalidated by finding an instance of the Company taking legal action for an alleged negative review prior to the article.  I don’t know if they exist, but I haven’t found one.

The first BBC item I came across was this one from 2019 citing instances in which this App was saving lives and Emergency Services were actually getting callers to download it in order that they could be rescued!

Now it may have its faults - the problem of the homophone has already been identified.  But I used to go clay shooting in isolated fields well off country lanes and would have had great difficulty directing emergency services to the location.

Like most Apps, I expect its imperfections will be eliminated in ongoing developments.  Until then, I’d rather have it available when needed then be without it.  Of course, other options may exist, but for me this is the easiest to use.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

Well, my reading of that article (and others) is exactly that, they tried to shut down negative comments.  

They was no proof of the misuse of copyright.

When asked multiple times, What3Words spokesperson Miriam Frank declined to point to any case where a judicial court has asserted that WhatFreeWords has violated its copyright.

They did not like the results the researcher found and tried to shut him up. Read the article. 

Try this one: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797

It is really simple to find arguments for any point, that is why we end up with opinions. 

If you are happy, great. Does that mean I am not entitled to an opinion? Debate and discussion requires the acceptance that other views and opinions may exist. Not sure everyone on here understands that.

It is good to hear it works well for you and others.

[Bluemarlin]

I've used it for a couple of trips to Europe and it's been great.

I tend to switch between Google maps and Waze which, in the past, meant loading up my destinations/favourites to both. The advantage of what3words for me is that I can just load them up once, and then pick which mapping app it uses.

[royoftherovers]

4 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Have you used it Maurice?

Thanks Maurice your comment did not imply to me that you had, hence my question.

I have not used it,but I feel that it represents progress in the Sat Nav field.Comments from Herbie, Gdamorini and Len I found are interesting.

I must confess that the older I get,the more suspect I become about any view that is expressed in the Press and much prefer to make my own mind up based upon my experience and acquired information.

[Las Palmas]

Never heard of it. Got curious. Downloaded it.

Have not yet used it.

Will first find out if the app owners share the app user’s location with paying owners of the app for commercial use. Do not want to get spam on the phone.

[Harrier Man]

44 minutes ago, Las Palmas said:

Never heard of it. Got curious. Downloaded it.

 

Have not yet used it.

 

Will first find out if the app owners share the app user’s location with paying owners of the app for commercial use. Do not want to get spam on the phone.

 

I've been using it for 2-3 years now and never had a problem of the app leading to spam. I believe W3W was a UK initiative so I feel more comfortable than I do with apps from some other countries. We all have to make up our own minds about the apps we use and how much of ourself we are prepared to give away for the benefit of a 'free' app. Social media apps are a prime example.

I like to go orienteering and this is another example of the benefits of W3W. We are often directed to park in a field, the start is in another field that can easily be a mile away. If anyone is injured, their position in the forest or on a hillside can readily be pinpointed. We carry detailed maps but they don't have OS markings on them. GPS co-ords would be possible but numbers can easily be transposed so I much prefer the more user-friendly W3W format.

[Bluemarlin]

I must add that one thing I'd find really useful, in any of the navigation apps, would be the ability to set multiple waypoints for any given journey.

I often want to go to a set destination, but would like to stop at/pass several other places on the way. Other than setting each place as a separate journey, I've not yet found a simple way to do this on either Google maps or Waze.

It seems like a fairly basic requirement, and so maybe I've missed something obvious. So, if anyone has found an easy way to do this, I'd be grateful for any pointers.

[LenT]

23 minutes ago, Bluemarlin said:

I must add that one thing I'd find really useful, in any of the navigation apps, would be the ability to set multiple waypoints for any given journey.

I often want to go to a set destination, but would like to stop at/pass several other places on the way. Other than setting each place as a separate journey, I've not yet found a simple way to do this on either Google maps or Waze.

It seems like a fairly basic requirement, and so maybe I've missed something obvious. So, if anyone has found an easy way to do this, I'd be grateful for any pointers.

Not an App - but my Garmin satnav has a route planning facility- although I’ve never had occasion to use it.  I expect other satnavs are the same, but I imagine you want to use a smart phone based system

[Moleman]

40 minutes ago, Bluemarlin said:

I must add that one thing I'd find really useful, in any of the navigation apps, would be the ability to set multiple waypoints for any given journey.

I often want to go to a set destination, but would like to stop at/pass several other places on the way. Other than setting each place as a separate journey, I've not yet found a simple way to do this on either Google maps or Waze.

It seems like a fairly basic requirement, and so maybe I've missed something obvious. So, if anyone has found an easy way to do this, I'd be grateful for any pointers.

Tom Tom systems have always had this option. Surprised if you cannot do this on Google and Waze.