[OSM-talk] What3words

[Maarten Deen]

On 2015-11-22 12:07, Colin Smale wrote:
> I guess there would be no objections to someone adding
> addr:w3w:en=nice.place.here ? Or addr:w3w=en:nice.place.here ?

Reading about what it is, it is just a lookup between some random three 
words and a location. We don't map addr:latlon=51.34,3.45 in OSM, why 
would we map addr:w3w? Especially since it is just a lookup. The way I 
see it, this is something you would add to nominatim.

I also don't understand this:
> "It's a non-hierarchical system. The problem with latitude and 
> longitude coordinates is that if you make a mistake when writing them 
> down you will be completely lost. But with our system similar sounding 
> words are located very far apart so people don't get lost if you hear 
> it wrong."

First, making a mistake in a lat/lon coordinate does not by definition 
mean you are completely lost. It is when you make a mistake in 
significant digits (add one degree to the latitude and you're way off) 
but it isn't when you make a mistake in the non-significant digits (the 
difference between 51.3456247 and 51.3456248 is mere centimeters).
Secondly, if you write a similar sounding word wrong, you are completely 
off. I mean, they specificaly say "similar sounding words are located 
very far apart".
So if someone tells you nice.place.here and you use nice.place.hear, you 
are by definition not near your intended location.

So it seems to me it is already flawed in concept.

Regards,
Maarten
> 
> Surely the established addressing systems are also closed and
> proprietary, in the sense that some organisation with a sanctioned
> monopoly tells YOU what your address is - you cannot just make it up
> yourself. Street naming, postal codes etc are definitely in this
> category. We have been crowdsourcing postcodes for years without
> problems.
> 
> Integration with nominatim for example, which will need to use the w3w
> API, is a different subject as this would need licensing.
> 
> On 2015-11-22 11:46, Paul Norman wrote:
> 
>> On 11/22/2015 2:39 AM, Colin Smale wrote:
>> 
>>> I have heard a few times recently about what3words, a new novel
>>> coordinate/addressing system for the whole world.
>>> 
>>> Could/should we be doing anything to support/facilitate/implement
>>> this system in OSM?
>> 
>> No. Other people might talk about the numerous problems how
>> what3words doesn't do what it claims to accomplish or flaws in the
>> technical implementation, but there's a much simpler reason why it
>> doesn't belong on osm.org: It's a closed proprietary system that
>> others can't reuse.
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> talk mailing list
>> talk at openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
> 
> _______________________________________________
> talk mailing list
> talk at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk