Converting coordinates to What 3 words

[kay]

Well, it's the fact that those who don't understand grid refs far outnumber those who can't stand w3w...

Agreed. I couldn't understand why the recording locations on a biological records system were all over the place, and mostly nowhere near the correct site, and eventually pinned it down to 10 digit OS references having been reduced to 6 digit by simply removing the last 4 digits.

 

[langcliffe]

Agreed. I couldn't understand why the recording locations on a biological records system were all over the place, and mostly nowhere near the correct site, and eventually pinned it down to 10 digit OS references having been reduced to 6 digit by simply removing the last 4 digits.

The last four digits of the northing, or the last two digits of both the northing and the easting?

 

[Cantclimbtom]

The *concept* behind W3W is great; OS grid references are not robust to radio communications and typing errors. I once got a 9 figure grid reference on a SARCALL message and it's easy to get one digit wrong in a way that puts you a bit, but not a long way, wrong.


However, the execution of W3W is poor. Much better would be for someone to build an open source alternative (or even the government to fund it) with probably four simple words but with a very carefully chosen word list. The real success of W3W isn't technological, it's marketing...

But... there is a map system based on 4 words (Four Kings Words / Four Kings Maps) , however it covers UK only so no help for OP in Majorca, sorry..

https: //www. fourkingmaps. co.uk/ what/

NSFW

 

[mikem]

Perfect for Father Jack though - they couldn't think of enough suitable words to extend it to rest of world!

 

[kay]

The last four digits of the northing, or the last two digits of both the northing and the easting?

The last 4 digits of the northing. eg SD 98765 43210 became SD 987 654

 

[LadyMud]

The last 4 digits of the northing. eg SD 98765 43210 became SD 987 654

That's exactly what happened with our local council and the police!

The police send over information about the location of road accidents, in case junctions need to be modified, or speed limits introduced.
But some of the collisions appeared to be taking place in the river, or in fields.

 

[Ad W]

What's the simplest and quickest free way to convert W3W back to trad OS with a browser? I don't want any smartphone app. An http API would be great where you could visit say W3W2OS.co.uk/sixfigure/aced.zooms.steadier and get SN104456 back as text.

Use Grid Reference Finder.

You can only convert one W3W at a time, but each time you convert a point it adds it to the table under the map/satellite image. You can then copy and paste or, more usefully, export all points in the table to csv, excel, KML or GPX .

 

[JasonC]

But... there is a map system based on 4 words (Four Kings Words / Four Kings Maps) , however it covers UK only so no help for OP in Majorca, sorry..

https: //www. fourkingmaps. co.uk/ what/

NSFW

Thank you for that. I will probably spend hours roaming the country, guffawing.
For instance, the Palace of Westminster is bog.knobend.scrotum.pigfucker Coincidence? Surely not ...

 

[Cantclimbtom]

Thank you for that. I will probably spend hours roaming the country, guffawing.
For instance, the Palace of Westminster is xxxxxxx Coincidence? Surely not ...

It's made from 4 words, but the creator didn't say they were allocated randomly

 

[mikem]

& as it's 3mx3m squares they get in a lot more names than that - princealbert at buck house...

 

[Ed]

What's the simplest and quickest free way to convert W3W back to trad OS with a browser? I don't want any smartphone app. An http API would be great where you could visit say W3W2OS.co.uk/sixfigure/aced.zooms.steadier and get SN104456 back as text.

I've banned the use of W3W in my company but clients (almost all are in the UK) seem to love it and so the first thing we have to do is convert their W3W into the OS system and politely make sure that they never see W3W again in documentation. We avoid lat-long too because it is both inconvenient being in degrees, mixing up positive with negative numbers, and error prone through its sheer verbosity.

The OS system is simple, succinct, readable and mathematically intuitive for UK purposes: for example SN123456 is obviously "fairly near" SN104456 since we are in units of 100m, and it's obviously in Mid/West Wales if you live here and know what the SN square roughly covers. I live in SO, so I know straightaway that SN is ballpark 100kms/60miles away from home, or at worst 140kms along a map diagonal. Just compare that to 52.07708737136622,-4.767253634197883 or aced.zooms.steadier for clarity and usability.

Just use the web based version of apps such as Outdoor Active

 

[owd git]

The *concept* behind W3W is great; OS grid references are not robust to radio communications and typing errors. I once got a 9 figure grid reference on a SARCALL message and it's easy to get one digit wrong in a way that puts you a bit, but not a long way, wrong.


However, the execution of W3W is poor. Much better would be for someone to build an open source alternative (or even the government to fund it) with probably four simple words but with a very carefully chosen word list. The real success of W3W isn't technological, it's marketing...

Reliance on 'digital' or more to the point, phone based tech' is in my opinion the problem here; how many years has mankind managed to navigate most of the way around, (or across, for the flat earthers.) our world? maps and compass are rarely wrong, with a little application. Furthermore, not likely to be corrupted by malice or stupidity from whoever is gonna get us!

 

[langcliffe]

Reliance on 'digital' or more to the point, phone based tech' is in my opinion the problem here; how many years has mankind managed to navigate most of the way around, (or across, for the flat earthers.) our world? maps and compass are rarely wrong, with a little application. Furthermore, not likely to be corrupted by malice or stupidity from whoever is gonna get us!

I can sympathise with your point to a certain extent, but technology such as W3W is used by people such as delivery drivers to be guided to individual buildings in urban environments. A map and compass would have limited use in that context.

 

[cap n chris]

Obviously other people far cleverer than I (not particularly difficult, tbh) have worked out how to ensure W3W doesn't get reduced to ineffectiveness by people being unable to spell, or distinguish spoken language, but I've often wondered how W3W deals with anomalies like air, ere, ayre, or though, through and thou, or eye, I and aye, etcetera, ect and lectraset.

 

[mikem]

Presumably as you need to be online, they expect people to message the address, not explain it to someone, but haven't allowed for the fact that UK emergency services don't use text due to the number of fake calls already received, which would become harder to detect (unless you're registered for the service that was originally set up for deaf). Also most uses only have one transmission, not being passed through emergency operator, rescue coordinator and finally the team members...

 

[ChrisB]

anomalies like air, ere, ayre, or though, through and thou, or eye, I and aye, etcetera, ect and lectraset.

They have chosen the word set to avoid obvious homonyms like that, but there are still some that cause trouble.

Their FAQ says you don't have to be online. I haven't tried using that.

 

[andrewmcleod]

Obviously other people far cleverer than I (not particularly difficult, tbh) have worked out how to ensure W3W doesn't get reduced to ineffectiveness by people being unable to spell, or distinguish spoken language, but I've often wondered how W3W deals with anomalies like air, ere, ayre, or though, through and thou, or eye, I and aye, etcetera, ect and lectraset.

*should* have worked out. They have avoided some homonyms but there are still big issues with things e.g. plurals.

They have not done a very good job; instead of fixing their word lists, they have built functionality that automatically suggests alternate possibilities to what has been entered which is dealing with the symptoms rather than the disease.

 

[mikem]

Apparently the app does work using GPS, so can locate you without being online "however, the map may not appear"...

Anyway texting and messaging services still require less signal than voice.