5 ms·

It looks like they've got that covered: "If we, what3words ltd, are ever unable to maintain the what3words technology or make arrangements for it to be maintain

It looks like they've got that covered: "If we, what3words ltd, are ever unable to maintain the what3words technology or make arrangements for it to be maintained by a third-party (with that third-party being willing to make this same commitment), then we will release our source code into the public domain. We will do this in such a way and with suitable licences and documentation to ensure that any and all users of what3words, whether they are individuals, businesses, charitable organisations, aid agencies, governments or anyone else can continue to rely on the what3words system." -- https://what3words.com/pricing/ https://what3words.com/pricing/

mikeash 9y ago
Is the code and documentation placed into escrow with a third party to ensure that this happens?
hobofan 9y ago
So what happens in the case that England (their place of business) issues trade embargos with any of those countries?
s0rce 9y ago
Not particularly reassuring, can't someone just create an open system with a similar concept and release the mapping.
- hobofan 9y ago
  When someone told about what3words, they also told me that they made money by selling shorter or more pleasant word pairings to whoever was willing to pay, but the only reference to that I could find is [0]. Having that requirement would make it much more difficult to build such a system. Apart from that, it's basically "just" geohashes with a different (population-density based) encoding. [0]: https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/08/what3words/ https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/08/what3words/
  - mtmail 9y ago
    Those were called One Words. That was their old businesses model and abandoned/pivoted.
- tyingq 9y ago
  >can't someone just create an open system with a similar concept There's a pretty good, working parody at http://what3fucks.com http://what3fucks.com
  - evancox10 9y ago
    And that system maintains a hierarchical relationship, you and your neighbor share the first n words. Makes much more sens e
EGreg 9y ago
What if they don't keep their word? A lot will come to depend on this. Geohash is patent free btw. I am sure something can be done here as well.
- hobofan 9y ago
  The what3words algorithm has a patent pending though[0]. Let's see if it will stand up to geohashes as prior art. [0]: https://www.google.com/patents/US20160073225 https://www.google.com/patents/US20160073225
  - aw3c2 9y ago
    And this https://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/13629/i-had-invented-and-published-before-this-patent-application-how-do-i-get-it-in https://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/13629/i-had-inve...

mikeash 9y ago

Is the code and documentation placed into escrow with a third party to ensure that this happens?

hobofan 9y ago

So what happens in the case that England (their place of business) issues trade embargos with any of those countries?

s0rce 9y ago

Not particularly reassuring, can't someone just create an open system with a similar concept and release the mapping.

hobofan 9y ago
When someone told about what3words, they also told me that they made money by selling shorter or more pleasant word pairings to whoever was willing to pay, but the only reference to that I could find is [0]. Having that requirement would make it much more difficult to build such a system. Apart from that, it's basically "just" geohashes with a different (population-density based) encoding. [0]: https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/08/what3words/ https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/08/what3words/
- mtmail 9y ago
  Those were called One Words. That was their old businesses model and abandoned/pivoted.
tyingq 9y ago
>can't someone just create an open system with a similar concept There's a pretty good, working parody at http://what3fucks.com http://what3fucks.com
- evancox10 9y ago
  And that system maintains a hierarchical relationship, you and your neighbor share the first n words. Makes much more sens e

EGreg 9y ago

What if they don't keep their word? A lot will come to depend on this. Geohash is patent free btw. I am sure something can be done here as well.

hobofan 9y ago
The what3words algorithm has a patent pending though[0]. Let's see if it will stand up to geohashes as prior art. [0]: https://www.google.com/patents/US20160073225 https://www.google.com/patents/US20160073225
- aw3c2 9y ago
  And this https://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/13629/i-had-invented-and-published-before-this-patent-application-how-do-i-get-it-in https://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/13629/i-had-inve...