The What3words app was conceived by Chris Sheldrick, 41, along with Jack Waley-Cohen, Mohan Ganesalingam, and Michael Dent in 2013. Sheldrick’s experience as an event organizer in the music industry inspired him to create the app.
During his time in the industry, Sheldrick realized that traditional addresses often did not accurately lead to the intended destination. This posed a challenge for vans, musicians, and equipment trying to navigate various locations.
To address this issue, Sheldrick developed the idea for What3words. The company has gained significant support, with over 100 emergency services branches in the UK utilizing the app to improve location accuracy.
What3words has secured more than £80m in funding from prominent investors, including Daimler, Intel, Channel 4, ITV, Ikea, and ex-Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg. It is valued at approximately £170m based on recent funding rounds, as reported by Companies House.
In the fiscal year ending in December, What3words recorded a turnover of £459,000, but faced a loss of £16m.
However, not everyone agrees that What3words provides a superior mapping solution. Mountain rescuers have encountered challenges when using the app to locate individuals, citing spelling issues as a potential cause.
Andrew Tierney, a cyber security consultant, has extensively analyzed What3words’ technology and found concerns regarding homophones – words that sound similar. He discovered that out of the 40,000 words used by the app, 7,697 also exist in plural form, resulting in 15,924 similar-sounding options.
Concerned about the implications for emergency services, Tierney conducted a detailed examination of the app and discovered two locations, “likely.stages.sock” and “likely.stage.sock,” with nearly identical What3words references but located on opposite sides of the River Clyde.
This finding contradicts the app’s claim to have resolved the issue of mistakenly assigning locations to the wrong side of the world.
While What3words has garnered support and recognition, potential drawbacks and limitations in its technology have raised valid concerns.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
