New method of giving accurate co-ordinates.

[phetphet]

This company have apparently mapped the whole globe into 3m x 3m squares, and each one is described by a combination of three words. Very clever.

I wonder if Thai Immigration will ever accept it instead of Google Maps.

http://what3words.com/about/

[Gulfsailor]

Awesome idea! Found an easy name combo for my address already. And made a deposit on two plots of land at smokers.live.longer and magic.unicorns.exist :-). Browsing for more great addresses!

[phetphet]

Awesome idea! Found an easy name combo for my address already. And made a deposit on two plots of land at smokers.live.longer and magic.unicorns.exist :-). Browsing for more great addresses!

Unfortunately I don't think you get to choose. They are already designated.

But for anyone who might be interested, the co-ordinates for the port side of the Boat Bar are: consumers.widescreen.fervently They have an app what3words

[Gulfsailor]

Awesome idea! Found an easy name combo for my address already. And made a deposit on two plots of land at smokers.live.longer and magic.unicorns.exist :-). Browsing for more great addresses!

Unfortunately I don't think you get to choose. They are already designated.

But for anyone who might be interested, the co-ordinates for the port side of the Boat Bar are: consumers.widescreen.fervently They have an app what3words

Since most properties are bigger than 3x3 meters, you'll have a fair amount of word combos to choose from for your place depending on its size. I picked the easiest to remember one.

If this system catches on, some places might become more valuable purely because of the 3 word address they have. Just imagine living on;

Handsome.bloke.residence

Hot.girls.welcome

Grumpy.forum.member

Etc.

[Gulfsailor]

555555555

The Grumpy.forum.member address actually exists! And perfectly situated near the North Pole!

[Crossy]

Love it GS.

Now if we could just exile some of our members there ...

[phetphet]

Awesome idea! Found an easy name combo for my address already. And made a deposit on two plots of land at smokers.live.longer and magic.unicorns.exist :-). Browsing for more great addresses!

Unfortunately I don't think you get to choose. They are already designated.

But for anyone who might be interested, the co-ordinates for the port side of the Boat Bar are: consumers.widescreen.fervently They have an app what3words

Since most properties are bigger than 3x3 meters, you'll have a fair amount of word combos to choose from for your place depending on its size. I picked the easiest to remember one.

If this system catches on, some places might become more valuable purely because of the 3 word address they have. Just imagine living on;

Handsome.bloke.residence

Hot.girls.welcome

Grumpy.forum.member

Etc.

Starz Cabaret = maidens.eager.wreckage

[impulse]

Call me old fashioned, but I like addresses where 192 N Pamela Drive is next door to 194 N Pamela Drive. And right across the street from 193 N Pamela Drive. Those, I can find even on a map from the '60s.

Hard to look for the mailing address for the house next door to eat.my.shorts or right around the corner from darn.lost.again.

Great system if you happen to have immediate access to the database, but what happens when the upcoming cyber war or a solar flare takes out the grid?

[phetphet]

Call me old fashioned, but I like addresses where 192 N Pamela Drive is next door to 194 N Pamela Drive. And right across the street from 193 N Pamela Drive. Those, I can find even on a map from the '60s.

Hard to look for the mailing address for the house next door to eat.my.shorts or right around the corner from darn.lost.again.

Great system if you happen to have immediate access to the database, but what happens when the upcoming cyber war or a solar flare takes out the grid?

Of course you are right...perfect system in towns and cities where all the house numbers in the street increase in order. Works great for both my postman and me.

But here in Thailand, and other countries, things don't always seem to follow those rules, and once you get way out, away from those towns, it can get even more difficult. This is just another system to be used as an alternative or alongside, and three words are easier to remember than a GPS co-ordinate.

Reading their bumpf... The app is small enough to download onto your phone so that once done you don't need the internet.

e.g. If I give my friend my address in Thailand, he won't find it on Google, or Apple maps unless it's a GPS co-ord., but if I tell him to download this app, and give him the three word address, it will pinpoint my place, and he can view it on a map or satellite image.

Just another navigation aid.

[n210mp]

Can I use it on my Garmin street pilot though or indeed on any other popular GPS ?

[Gulfsailor]

Can I use it on my Garmin street pilot though or indeed on any other popular GPS ?

When this system gets some traction, I am sure new device updates will incorporate the algorithm. At least then all places can easily be found using a GPS navigator. Right now the majority of the addresses in Thailand are totally unfindable by Google Maps or Apple Maps. I doubt this is any better with other map suppliers.

[taotoo]

Call me old fashioned, but I like addresses where 192 N Pamela Drive is next door to 194 N Pamela Drive. And right across the street from 193 N Pamela Drive. Those, I can find even on a map from the '60s.

Hard to look for the mailing address for the house next door to eat.my.shorts or right around the corner from darn.lost.again.

Great system if you happen to have immediate access to the database, but what happens when the upcoming cyber war or a solar flare takes out the grid?

It works offline from a 10mb algorithm which there will be copies of everywhere. No Internet required.

[n210mp]

When I first read about this latest mapping App I was elated because of the difficulty that Google or Gamin mappers have with translation of anything Thai into an understandable English language

The only time i can use my Garmin for say private or non public address is by first taking the GPS there and using the "where am I " icon and saving it as a Favourite

Fantastic invention and British too I think Cannot wait for the App to become compatible with the Garmin street pilot App on my iPhone 4

Just tried to download the App on my iPhone 4 and it tells me that the software in my iPhone isnt up to its needs.

This is the problem of using an iPhone that Apple have stopped updating (shizer_

[arjunadawn]

I thought this was interesting. Stumbled on what3words last week. I must confess a related addiction. I also stumbled across geoguessr. https://geoguessr.com/

This site is less useful but a bit addictive if your into cartography, navigation, travel, etc. Both amazing, the OP is useful however. Geo Guessing only useful if plenty of free time

[phetphet]

Can I use it on my Garmin street pilot though or indeed on any other popular GPS ?

I don't know if it's available yet on other devices such as Garmin, but it is available on iOS and Android as an app. Also, there is a "Developers" link on the website, which will allow developers to add the app to their own apps. This means it should be available through other apps eventually. It already shows British Museum and Streetmap are using it.

When you go to http://www.what3words.com and click on "Explore Map", in the top left corner it shows various map types, including ESRI, and Openstreet Map. I think I am right in saying ESRI do the Garmin maps for Thailand, so you never know, it might come soon.

EDIT: Just came across this: https://apps.garmin.com/en-ZA/apps/dce8ef10-7c8b-4a91-b80a-b1a544556e88

Maybe not for all Garmin devices, but it shows it might come soon.

[simon43]

Hmm, my business location is 'reputable.kilowatt.geraniums'

Is this something that I can quote to the Thai taxi drivers?

Arai wa??!

[impulse]

Hmmm. Anyone see a business plan selling the rights to word combinations?

Perhaps a restaurant would pay to be located at great.italian.food, or a bar, to be located located at amazing.girls.Fridays?

[Gulfsailor]

Hmmm. Anyone see a business plan selling the rights to word combinations?

Perhaps a restaurant would pay to be located at great.italian.food, or a bar, to be located located at amazing.girls.Fridays?

Unfortunately that's not possible as all grids have been assigned a word combo already. That doesn't stop a business from buying or renting a building that has a favorable 3-word address. But that will mean a lot of (manual for now) searching.

[connda]

I wonder if Thai Immigration will ever accept it instead of Google Maps.

Dream on. I've submitted detailed printed maps to immigration only to have them turn it over and have the wife hand-draw a crude map on the back. I've given up. Their methodologies boggle the mind. After 5 years of processing my own extensions, I've given up on the beauacrasy and have hired an agent. Between the wife and a visa agent, I doubt they will even talk to me. So if they want a hand drawn map, we'll see how well the visa agent can draw. Lol

[connda]

[jpinx]

Only works for countries where the language uses the "english" alphabet. Obviously dreamt up by some eejit in USA who needs to travel and see how the world actually operates

[partington]

Only works for countries where the language uses the "english" alphabet. Obviously dreamt up by some eejit in USA who needs to travel and see how the world actually operates

Don't be so lazy: you could at least have tested your prejudices with a single click and found them to be wrong.

"We have rolled out our 3 word address system in 9 languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Russian, German, Turkish & Swedish. We are adding to those every month and are currently working on Italian, Greek, Arabic and more."

http://what3words.com/about/

[jpinx]

Only works for countries where the language uses the "english" alphabet. Obviously dreamt up by some eejit in USA who needs to travel and see how the world actually operates

Don't be so lazy: you could at least have tested your prejudices with a single click and found them to be wrong.

"We have rolled out our 3 word address system in 9 languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Russian, German, Turkish & Swedish. We are adding to those every month and are currently working on Italian, Greek, Arabic and more."

http://what3words.com/about/

So what happens when you want to tell your arabic speaking buddy the words?

[impulse]

So what happens when you want to tell your arabic speaking buddy the words?

You get flagged by the NSA?

[phetphet]

Only works for countries where the language uses the "english" alphabet. Obviously dreamt up by some eejit in USA who needs to travel and see how the world actually operates

Don't be so lazy: you could at least have tested your prejudices with a single click and found them to be wrong.

"We have rolled out our 3 word address system in 9 languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Russian, German, Turkish & Swedish. We are adding to those every month and are currently working on Italian, Greek, Arabic and more."

http://what3words.com/about/

So what happens when you want to tell your arabic speaking buddy the words?

Well if he can't speak English, or whatever your language might happen to be, and you can't speak Arabic, you are never going to understand one another anyway.