Say goodbye to your GPS…maybe | Travel Research Online

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Say goodbye to your GPS…maybe

A new British company may be re-inventing the GPS which will could have an incredible impact on travel and business in general. What 3 Words has taken on the seemingly Herculean task of dividing the world into 3 meter squares. Huh? Read on!

Have you ever had your GPS lead you astray because of an outdated map or coordinates? How about a client not being able to find that quaint little restaurant you recommended that is situated in the alley on Ille Saint-Louis? Maybe a cruise passenger has not been able to find that fabulous guide you arranged because of the crowds when four ships are in the same port. What about a child that gets separated from his family at Walt Disney World?

Maybe your office is within a larger complex and 1000 Huge Building Way, Mailstop 6455 is not cutting it.

What if you wanted to connect with a colleague in a busy convention center with thousands of other agents in attendance?

Believe it or not, all of these dilemmas can be solved with What 3 Words.

OK, here’s the gist—they have divided the entire planet up into grids—each 3 meters by 3 meters. And they have assigned a semi-unique 3-word label to each square. My house, well, actually my desk in my house is located at candles.consuming.magazines. My kitchen is located at bombshell.outreach.myriad. With a 3 meter square, you can find a specific person or place. There are 57 trillion squares and a finite number of word combinations so there will be some repetition, but they keep them on separate continents. I guess it is reasonable to assume the user will know the continent.

In fact, Mercedes Benz will be incorporating the technology in some 2018 models. Break down somewhere between North Carolina and Georgia on I-95 in the middle of the night? What 3 Words will give you a specific point to your location. Also a perfect solution to the client that breaks down in a rental car somewhere between Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

Looking to the future, individual employees could have 3 words for their desks. Businesses could use 3 words for their addresses. Finding a friend at a crowded festival just got a bit easier.

I can’t think of an industry where this would not be a great help. Have you heard of it? Have you tried it? What do you think?

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