What does the what3words app do? | what3words Help Centre (2024)

FAQs

What does the what3words app do? | what3words Help Centre? ›

What3words addresses are precise to a 10ft square, so 9-1-1

what3words. Street addresses aren't accurate enough to specify precise locations, such as building entrances, and don't exist for parks and many rural areas. This makes it hard to find places and prevents people from describing exactly where help is needed in an emergency. That's why we created what3words.

It's very simple: it's a closed system. So their company own the database of words which are mapped to locations and this is not Open Data so the only way of mapping three words to a location, or vice versa, is through their company and its servers. Now I hope you can immediately see the problem with this.

Does the app work without signal? Without phone signal, the app functions the same as when you have no data connection: you can view the location of any what3words address you enter. You can also navigate to it using compass mode. To share a what3words address over the phone or in a text message you need phone signal.

what3words has a very different function – it's an easy way to communicate exact locations, whether that's spoken over the phone or into a car voice navigation system, or typed into a taxi app or a website checkout page.

Is what3words free to use? Yes, our app and online map are free to use – and they always will be. We do charge businesses that benefit commercially from using what3words, but offer free access to emergency services and many NGOs for educational, community and innovative projects.

Founded by Chris Sheldrick, Jack Waley-Cohen, Mohan Ganesalingam and Michael Dent, What3words was launched in July 2013.

In most cases, you simply need to wait a moment for the signal to stabilise and the blue dot will settle on the correct 3 metre square for your location.

About what3words

Using words means non-technical people can accurately find any location and communicate it more quickly, more easily and with less ambiguity than any other system like street addresses, postcodes, latitude & longitude or mobile short-links.

Using the what3words app

Tap the search bar in our app and enter a street address or place name, then select the correct result. To select the precise location, zoom in on the map and switch to satellite view by tapping the map view button to the bottom right of the map. This will help you see more detail.

What are three words to postcode? ›

What3words is a really simple way of pinpointing an exact location. The entire planet has been split up into 3m x 3m squares and each one of these has been allocated a unique 3 word address. These will never change.

When you enter a street address into Google Maps, it drops a pin into the centre of the building – it can't help you find a precise location, like a specific entrance. what3words addresses help you do just that, and you can use them like you would street addresses. Simple!

We receive data – that can constitute Personal Data under applicable laws – in order to provide our online services. However, we do not receive any data from usage of our app created for emergency services (what3words Lite).

Not only are they easier to remember, but they're quicker and easier to say over the phone too. They're also simpler to enter into a device or navigation system, whether you're typing or speaking them. Additionally, what3words has AutoSuggest technology which helps users quickly identify and correct input mistakes.

If you're given a what3words location, you can open it in the what3words app, then tap 'Navigate' and select 'Google Maps' to open the exact location in Google Maps and get directions.