Is there a widely accepted open source alternative to What3Words?
It seems that what3words is proprietary. The app on AppStore expects 40€ annually for quite basic functionality, hard to see how something with potentially useful functionality can get global acceptance at these costs.
Carlos Solís
in reply to notsosure • •evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to Carlos Solís • • •It almost seems like a different use case. It seems like the plus codes are effectively like mailing addresses for places that dont have addresses (lots of countries). They still lack the ability to do clear, analog communication (e.g., over radio or just a person's memory in a search and rescue situation).
I will say, I've noticed the plus codes, but never looked into them. It's really good that they are open source and can be generated offline. Hopefully they have some adoption in other apps/devices.
like this
Carlos Solís likes this.
kevincox
in reply to evasive_chimpanzee • • •evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to kevincox • • •How does that work?
V75V+8Q Paris, France
If you reach "v75v+ paris", it's less detailed than the full plus code, and "paris+8q" doesnt get you anything.
like this
Carlos Solís likes this.
nitroemdash
in reply to evasive_chimpanzee • • •plus.codes/ click ミ > Grid
The full plus-code is actually 8 characters before the plus and 2–3 after. Usually you only need 4 to get within one city. Just like with phone numbers, where the first geographical part is often omitted.
Redirecting...
plus.codesevasive_chimpanzee
in reply to nitroemdash • • •Asklemmy reshared this.
kevincox
in reply to evasive_chimpanzee • • •The fact is that it depends and it is a bit confusing for people not familiar. But it isn't hard to get used to.
+8Q, Parisisn't specific enough. There are multiple +8Q inside Paris. It can also be a bit risky to make short codes like this especially with larger cities as different maps may put the city in different spots.What does work is
+8Q Eiffel Towerwhich is useful for something like "Meet me here by the Eiffel Tower" or "I'm right here" when you are texting someone you are meeting and you know you are close but can't see each other.So you end up with a few common options:
+8Q Eiffel TowerWe are pretty close together but need to get the exact spot.V75V+8Q Paris, FranceFor exact spots around a known area.8FW4V75V+8QFor fully qualified with no reference needed.And a few less useful options:
... Mostrar más8FW4V7+This large part of a city.8FW4+This part of the country.8F+This area of the worldThe fact is that it depends and it is a bit confusing for people not familiar. But it isn't hard to get used to.
+8Q, Parisisn't specific enough. There are multiple +8Q inside Paris. It can also be a bit risky to make short codes like this especially with larger cities as different maps may put the city in different spots.What does work is
+8Q Eiffel Towerwhich is useful for something like "Meet me here by the Eiffel Tower" or "I'm right here" when you are texting someone you are meeting and you know you are close but can't see each other.So you end up with a few common options:
+8Q Eiffel TowerWe are pretty close together but need to get the exact spot.V75V+8Q Paris, FranceFor exact spots around a known area.8FW4V75V+8QFor fully qualified with no reference needed.And a few less useful options:
8FW4V7+This large part of a city.8FW4+This part of the country.8F+This area of the world.I don't know if I would have done this "leading zeros assumed" approach. Because IMHO for day-to-day use
V75V+Would be more useful as a shortcut for????V75V+rather thanV75V????+showing a rough location on a human scale (in this case the Eiffel Tower park is pretty clearly targeted) rather than an area larger than a city. But that is really the only complaint I have.like this
Carlos Solís likes this.
evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to kevincox • • •Korhaka
in reply to notsosure • • •evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to Korhaka • • •Asklemmy reshared this.
kambusha
in reply to evasive_chimpanzee • • •"ThereThey'reTheir"
evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to kambusha • • •Asklemmy reshared this.
evasive_chimpanzee
in reply to notsosure • • •Oh dang. I haven't actually used the app in a while. It seems like the monetization of core features is a new thing?
It's such a simple and good idea at its core, so it seems really stupid to muck it up. I guess I will just have to go back to using decimal lat/longs. At least mapping applications seem to be able to interpret those better now. For the longest time, even Google maps would just give you no results if you typed in what was obviously lat/long if you didn't have the ° symbol and minutes/seconds.
bandwidthcrisis
in reply to notsosure • • •There's the NSFW version, but it only works in the UK.
And it's not something that you'd ever want to say out loud.
fourkingmaps.co.uk/
Four King Maps - Fucking good maps
www.fourkingmaps.co.ukAsklemmy reshared this.
auzy1
in reply to notsosure • • •Asklemmy reshared this.
PostsFromWikipedia
in reply to notsosure • • •Proprietary software - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)