Start-up Develops Mapping App to Locate Specific Places

A London-based start-up developed an app that lets users locate a specific place using a three-word combination. Chris Sheldrick and his two friends, Mohan Ganesalingam and Jack Waley-Cohen, developed the app called what3words. Sheldrick used to provide services for live music events, requiring him to drop off equipment and direct bands to different locations. As Sheldrick became frustrated because of several mistakes with addresses, he tried to find a way to make locations easier to find and remember. To develop the app, Sheldrick and his friends first divided the globe into 57 trillion squares. Then, with Ganesalingam’s background in mathematics, the three came up with around 40,000 words, which were divided into three-word combinations, to tag all the squares. A word combination can be obtained either by clicking one spot on the map or by typing in a place’s address. To find a location using a word combination, a user should type three forward slashes, followed by the three words in the search tab of the app. The three words should be separated by periods. For example, the Statue of Liberty has been given the name “///planet.inches.most” by the app. What3words is free for public use, but profits will be generated from institutions that are planning to integrate the app into their operations. Currently, some of the start-up’s partners include a ride-hailing app, logistics companies, and car manufacturers. The use of the app is widespread in Mongolia, where the postal service, banks, and modes of transportation have been using what3words as the official address tracking system. The app has also been translated to over 30 languages including French, Arabic, and Japanese. The creators hope that what3words will become a global standard in five years.