6 ms·

Hence why a house number and postcode constitutes a complete address in the UK, we’ve sort of already got What Three Words with “a number and 5-7 characters” -

Hence why a house number and postcode constitutes a complete address in the UK, we’ve sort of already got What Three Words with “a number and 5-7 characters” - not quite as catchy though

beardyw 2y ago
We needed an ambulance off road in the middle of Richmond Park where a postcode would also not help. We didn't have WTW either, which they asked for and would have helped immensely.
- sideshowb 2y ago
  If only we had a system of national grid references since, say, 1936
  - beardyw 2y ago
    They were only interested in What Three Words. Didn't want anything else, sadly.
    - sideshowb 2y ago
      I know - my van broke down recently, had the same experience even though I could describe the location exactly by intersection of roads, or grid reference. As I had a smartphone they did at least have a link I could click which would give me my w3w location, which I had to read back to them.
- xnorswap 2y ago
  If you drop a pin in google maps it shows you the lat/lon, e.g. 51.5010392, -0.1423616 7 decimal places of lat/lon is approximately a centimetre.
  - mjlee 2y ago
    To save some maths during a crisis - 3 is ~100m, 4 is ~10m.
    - HPsquared 2y ago
      Lat/long coordinates and metres are actually linked quite closely: the metre was originally defined as "the arc from equator to North pole is defined as 10,000 km". That is, 90 degrees is 10,000 km.
      - jameshart 2y ago
        And if the French had had their way, we’d use grads not degrees and latitude would instead be 100 grads per 10,000km, so each grad of latitude would be 100km. That kind of sanity was, of course, unacceptable to the rest of the world.
        HPsquared 2y ago
        The French were really into decimalization for a while. They tried decimal time (10 decimal hours per day, each 100 decimal minutes, each 100 decimal seconds), and a new calendar with equal 30-day months (the extra days at the end were national holidays, in September in the Gregorian calendar). Also 10-day 'décades' instead of weeks.
  - growse 2y ago
    Or a plus code, which is a little less precise, open, and a little easier for humans to transmit than a latlng.
  - _trampeltier 2y ago
    Centimetre, and after the next big earthquake are all numbers off, sometimes even by several meters. Now what you do? New addresses for all, or wrong numbers to new buildings?
    - 2y ago
- fire_lake 2y ago
  There should be a free and open government backed alternative to W3W. Outrageous for a private company to own such a thing.
- devnullbrain 2y ago
  Why didn't they just use Advanced Mobile Location? I called in a fire for a fallen tree in the middle of the field and they just asked if it was next to where I'm standing.
- PaulRobinson 2y ago
  w3w has been sold to most UK emergency services to deal with that exact scenario. I know Richmond Park well, and it's hard to direct anybody to anywhere in it using addresses, so it makes sense. The problem is that w3w is privately owned and has multiple issues with it, as well documented elsewhere. They could invest in a solution that allows for an OS grid reference to be discovered by sending you a link (a bit like they do with w3w), or some other open (already paid for) reference. That still has limitations if you don't have a smart phone with GPS on it, but I'd argue it's better than what they have right now. Of course none of this solves for the fact the most useful location dataset in the country is the PAF, and we can't use that without spending a small fortune on licensing it.
DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
> What Three Words W3W's closed, proprietary scheme is arguably worse than the PAF - as seen on HN previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20183533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20183533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27058271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27058271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19511917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19511917
rootusrootus 2y ago
I noticed that W3W showed up in a number of places, typically on advertisements, at least around London. Is it used universally across the UK? I don't know of anyone using it in the US aside from a few enthusiasts. I had forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when we were visiting London.
- sahmeepee 2y ago
  It's far from universal and much less used than postcodes for general purpose location, the company just pushed very hard with UK advertising and did a deal with the ambulance service because "everyone trusts the NHS"

Hence why a house number and postcode constitutes a complete address in the UK, we’ve sort of already got What Three Words with “a number and 5-7 characters” - not quite as catchy though

beardyw 2y ago

We needed an ambulance off road in the middle of Richmond Park where a postcode would also not help. We didn't have WTW either, which they asked for and would have helped immensely.

sideshowb 2y ago
If only we had a system of national grid references since, say, 1936
- beardyw 2y ago
  They were only interested in What Three Words. Didn't want anything else, sadly.
  - sideshowb 2y ago
    I know - my van broke down recently, had the same experience even though I could describe the location exactly by intersection of roads, or grid reference. As I had a smartphone they did at least have a link I could click which would give me my w3w location, which I had to read back to them.
xnorswap 2y ago
If you drop a pin in google maps it shows you the lat/lon, e.g. 51.5010392, -0.1423616 7 decimal places of lat/lon is approximately a centimetre.
- mjlee 2y ago
  To save some maths during a crisis - 3 is ~100m, 4 is ~10m.
  - HPsquared 2y ago
    Lat/long coordinates and metres are actually linked quite closely: the metre was originally defined as "the arc from equator to North pole is defined as 10,000 km". That is, 90 degrees is 10,000 km.
    - jameshart 2y ago
      And if the French had had their way, we’d use grads not degrees and latitude would instead be 100 grads per 10,000km, so each grad of latitude would be 100km. That kind of sanity was, of course, unacceptable to the rest of the world.
      - HPsquared 2y ago
        The French were really into decimalization for a while. They tried decimal time (10 decimal hours per day, each 100 decimal minutes, each 100 decimal seconds), and a new calendar with equal 30-day months (the extra days at the end were national holidays, in September in the Gregorian calendar). Also 10-day 'décades' instead of weeks.
- growse 2y ago
  Or a plus code, which is a little less precise, open, and a little easier for humans to transmit than a latlng.
- _trampeltier 2y ago
  Centimetre, and after the next big earthquake are all numbers off, sometimes even by several meters. Now what you do? New addresses for all, or wrong numbers to new buildings?
  - 2y ago
fire_lake 2y ago
There should be a free and open government backed alternative to W3W. Outrageous for a private company to own such a thing.
devnullbrain 2y ago
Why didn't they just use Advanced Mobile Location? I called in a fire for a fallen tree in the middle of the field and they just asked if it was next to where I'm standing.
PaulRobinson 2y ago
w3w has been sold to most UK emergency services to deal with that exact scenario. I know Richmond Park well, and it's hard to direct anybody to anywhere in it using addresses, so it makes sense. The problem is that w3w is privately owned and has multiple issues with it, as well documented elsewhere. They could invest in a solution that allows for an OS grid reference to be discovered by sending you a link (a bit like they do with w3w), or some other open (already paid for) reference. That still has limitations if you don't have a smart phone with GPS on it, but I'd argue it's better than what they have right now. Of course none of this solves for the fact the most useful location dataset in the country is the PAF, and we can't use that without spending a small fortune on licensing it.

DaiPlusPlus 2y ago

> What Three Words W3W's closed, proprietary scheme is arguably worse than the PAF - as seen on HN previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20183533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20183533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27058271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27058271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19511917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19511917

rootusrootus 2y ago

I noticed that W3W showed up in a number of places, typically on advertisements, at least around London. Is it used universally across the UK? I don't know of anyone using it in the US aside from a few enthusiasts. I had forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when we were visiting London.

sahmeepee 2y ago
It's far from universal and much less used than postcodes for general purpose location, the company just pushed very hard with UK advertising and did a deal with the ambulance service because "everyone trusts the NHS"