What3words: Difference between revisions
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{{ | {{CompanyCargo | ||
| | |Description=British geolocation system that provides three-word phrases to label every 3x3 meter square on the globe. | ||
|Founded = 2013 | |Founded=2013 | ||
| | |Industry=Geocoding, GIS | ||
|Logo=What3Words example.svg | |||
| | |ParentCompany= | ||
| | |Type=Private | ||
|Website=[https://what3words.com what3words.com] | |||
}} | |||
'''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What3words What3Words]''' (W3W) is a proprietary geolocation system developed by What3Words Limited, assigning three-word combinations to 3×3 meter squares across the globe. It is marketed as a simple alternative to latitude/longitude for navigation, logistics, and emergency services. The system is entirely closed-source and is protected by patents, copyrighted wordlists, and trademarks. | '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What3words What3Words]''' (W3W) is a proprietary geolocation system developed by What3Words Limited, assigning three-word combinations to 3×3 meter squares across the globe. It is marketed as a simple alternative to latitude/longitude for navigation, logistics, and emergency services. The system is entirely closed-source and is protected by patents, copyrighted wordlists, and trademarks. | ||
Although widely promoted for consumer use, What3Words has been the subject of significant criticism from security researchers, mapping experts, emergency response professionals, and open-data advocates. Criticisms focus on its proprietary nature, licensing restrictions, algorithmic opacity, similarity-based errors in safety-critical contexts, and the company’s history of issuing legal threats against researchers who attempted to analyze or replicate the system.<ref name="tc2021">{{cite web|title=What3Words sent a legal threat to a security researcher for sharing an open-source project|author=Zach Whittaker|date=29 April 2021|publisher=TechCrunch|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/30/what3words-legal-threat-whatfreewords/}}</ref><ref name="bbc2021a">{{cite web|title=Rescuers question what3words' use in emergencies|author=Chris Vallance|date=31 May 2021|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57156797}}</ref> | Although widely promoted for consumer use, What3Words has been the subject of significant criticism from security researchers, mapping experts, emergency response professionals, and open-data advocates. Criticisms focus on its proprietary nature, licensing restrictions, algorithmic opacity, similarity-based errors in safety-critical contexts, and the company’s history of issuing legal threats against researchers who attempted to analyze or replicate the system.<ref name="tc2021">{{cite web|title=What3Words sent a legal threat to a security researcher for sharing an open-source project|author=Zach Whittaker|date=29 April 2021|publisher=TechCrunch|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/30/what3words-legal-threat-whatfreewords/}}</ref><ref name="bbc2021a">{{cite web|title=Rescuers question what3words' use in emergencies|author=Chris Vallance|date=31 May 2021|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57156797}}</ref> | ||