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Cycling app of the week: what3words
What is it?
what3words isn't a cycling app as such, but we're going to claim it as it has obvious two-wheeled benefits! It's a brave decision to do away with such common wisdom as postcoding, but that's exactly what what3words have done; instead of addressing the world by postcode, the app has assigned 3-word addresses, spaced by a full stop between each word, to each 3x3 meter square of the earth (there are 57 trillion of them). It's a much more accurate way of describing a location, and even a whole new way to talk about where you are. No more vague descriptions of somewhere you went and can't quite remember where it was, just three words that pinpoints the exact spot.
The clever algorithm makes sure addresses that sound very similar are far apart, and more common address are given to built-up areas while more obscure ones are given to rural and remote locations to better distinguish them. It uses a range of different languages, and more are been added over time, with a word list of over 40,000 in English. To avoid confusion, no words are shared between language versions. Once they find a 3 word address in one language, they can switch languages and discover the 3 word address for that same 3m x 3m square in a different language.
It works offline, so you don't need a data connection to use it, and you can search for places in the map using postcodes or street names if you don't know its three-word address or map location yet.
what3words are fully aware of the app's uses for cycling, and have recently partnered with the Beeline cycle-specific navigation computer. The what3words code has been integrated into apps from big businesses such as Jaguar Land Rover, Domino's Pizza, Audi and Glastonbury Festival already.
Cheddar Gorge really starts to ramp up at assure.buffoon.squirted
How can it help me?
How many times have you tried to describe to someone a particularly gnarly section of an MTB course, the start of a Strava segment, or even a point where there's a nasty pothole? With this app you can describe the exact spot, just search on the what3words map for the location and you have a three-word address to identify it. You can then navigate to the exact spot in the future by searching for it using the three words in the map.
Again this isn't cycling related, but what3Words is helping others by giving them an actual address where postcoding doesn't. This has huge implications for remote parts of the world, in fact What3Words claim 75% of countries lack a reliable address system, making parcel delivery, opening bank accounts and even registering a birth difficult - this way it ensures no one is invisible to the state.
It could also mark an end to delivery companies leaving parcels in the wrong place. Is your postbox round the side? what3words can lead the courier to the exact spot, rather than just the building, ensuring your latest Wiggle/road.cc cycling socks order never goes astray.
"The wife told me I can't go riding this morning so we'll have to sneak out quietly... meet me down free.name.oppose instead of sprint.piano.vital!
What makes it unique?
From what we understand this is the first app of its kind, and potentially a revolutionary idea that has uses in multiple industries. It's a whole new, precise way to talk about where you are - to us that's pretty unique.
Where can I get it?
what3words is free to download on Android and iOS. There are also third-party apps, mostly navigational, with what3words built into it - you can see a list of them here.
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
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13 comments
If you plan to head out away from data signals and want the option to navigate using what3words you need to have downloaded the relevent Google map.
It's brilliant. A 3m square is precise enough to find someone else. It's great for finding people when out walking, riding, on the beach, at outdoor events... anywhere that a street address isn't readily available. Much easier to quote and remember three words than a grid reference.
Yup, you have to get down wiv da kidz who have never seen a paper map.
I wonder whether the randomness of the words is good or bad as at least with long and lat you knew what the one to the east or west was likely to be.
As a business concept too, this has legs and 3by3 makes it even more so - Starbucks Timperley One, Two, Three et al all up for sale. Wonder if I can start locking some names down like when you used to buy web addresses...
Yes also wondering why three words of gibberish, which will probably be to the 'detriment of language' is better than a grid reference numerical code, especially if that numerical code is 'limited to 57trillion'.
My back of a fag packet thinking, cannot make sense of this.
It's worldwide, so compares with latitude/longitude rather than a national grid reference, and it's much easier to dictate three words over a noisy phone connection, or to remember them, than it is a numeric reference. (I once spent hours looking for a control in the wrong place on a Swiss Mountain Marathon because the English translation of the control list had two digits transposed. That sort of mistake is much less likely with a scheme like this.)
Obviously there are disadvantages too, like the thousands of existing navigation devices, including paper maps, that have support for existing standards that really are proper standards not a proprietary scheme, but so long as there are adequate conversions it could be a useful additional tool.
Not sure I agree, words spoken over a noisy line (or in a strong accent) are easily confused. Even letters spelled out over noisy lines can be confused hence why the frenetic alphabet was introduced for radio communication. What we'll end up doing is spelling out each word which makes it long-winded and worse than grid ref and lat/long. Anyway, who talks on a phone these days? It's all text, posts and tweets these days
they're trying to find the way to monetise.absolutely.everything.
This could have been really useful last year at university. We got pizzas delivered to one of the computer rooms but had to go and search for the pizza delivery bloke who was hopelessly lost on campus :p
Interesting idea, much simpler than lat long co-ordinates - though has no logical way determining the name of a place other than using an app.
3x3 metres is not very precise. There's room there for plenty of wrong mailboxes for the postman to put your socks in.
Latitude and longitude coordinates, on the other hand, can specify up to 13 digits of precision each, which would tell the postman exactly where to shove your socks, to the angstrom.
It will be a pity if, as seems likely, no individual will remain invisible to the state. It has long been my ambition to do just that, but so far no luck.
What are you worried about, bro?
They are coming to get me.
If you stay in a box smaller the 3x3 they might not see you!