what3words – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Fri, 08 Sep 2023 12:59:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg what3words – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 What3Words Confusion Rate Under Scrutiny https://www.maproomblog.com/2023/09/what3words-confusion-rate-under-scrutiny/ Tue, 05 Sep 2023 12:54:39 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1818301 More]]> The What3Words geocoding service assigns a three-word mapcode to every three-square-metre patch on the planet, the premise being that three words are easier to remember and share than longitude and latitude to the equivalent decimal places. But the main complaint about What3Words (apart from the proprietary nature of its algorithm and database) is that it’s possible to get even those three words confused, especially in contexts where plurals and homophones may not be heard clearly, or where similar combinations of words are close enough to each other that they can be mistaken for each other. There’s actually an entire website dedicated to chronicling errors in W3W.

W3W maintains that their algorithm keeps similar combinations “so far apart that an error is obvious. We also worked hard to remove homophones and near homophones like sale and sail.” They rate the the chance of two confusing combinations appearing close enough to be unclear at about 1 in 2.5 million. But in a new analysis of the algorithm, currently in preprint, computer scientist Rudy Arthur argues that despite W3W’s claims this chance of confusion is far higher, and warns against adopting W3W as critical infrastructure (it’s used by emergency services, particularly in the U.K.) without testing and comparing against available alternatives. [The Register]

Previously: What3Words Hasn’t Had the Greatest Couple of Months: A Roundup.

]]>
1818301
What3Words Hasn’t Had the Greatest Couple of Months: A Roundup https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/06/what3words-hasnt-had-the-greatest-couple-of-months-a-roundup/ Thu, 03 Jun 2021 22:35:25 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1791196 More]]> The proprietary geocoding system What3words, which assigns a three-word mapcode to each three-square-metre point on the planet, has been getting some grief lately. It’s always been somewhat controversial because it’s a closed system, and because of the steps What3words has taken to protect its proprietary database and algorithms: it’s issued takedown notices relating to the compatible, open-source WhatFreeWords (details here), to the point of threatening a security researcher over his tweets about it last April. Which, you know, got noticed.

It’s also been the subject of several parodies, including what3emojis (emojis instead of words), Four King Maps (four swear words, UK and Ireland only on account of a lack of swear words, which frankly disappoints me) and Maps Mania’s own April Fool’s joke for this year, what2figures, which expresses any point on the globe in just two numbers (I’ll wait).

But more recently it’s come under criticism for having similar sounding word combinations for addresses only a few miles apart: see Andrew Tierney’s blog post (which expands upon this Twitter thread) and What3words’s response. This is especially a problem for first responders trying to locate someone who may have misspoken or mistyped their location, or because of their accent, resulting in rescue teams being sent to the wrong location.

]]>
1791196