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A critical analysis of the What3Words geocoding algorithm

dc.contributor.authorArthur, R
dc.date.accessioned2023-12-13T09:22:06Z
dc.date.issued2023-10-25
dc.date.updated2023-12-12T22:26:57Z
dc.description.abstractWhat3Words is a geocoding application that uses triples of words instead of alphanumeric coordinates to identify locations. What3Words has grown rapidly in popularity over the past few years and is used in logistical applications worldwide, including by emergency services. What3Words has also attracted criticism for being less reliable than claimed, in particular that the chance of confusing one address with another is high. This paper investigates these claims and shows that the What3Words algorithm for assigning addresses to grid boxes creates many pairs of confusable addresses, some of which are quite close together. The implications of this for the use of What3Words in critical or emergency situations is discussed.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 18 (10), article e0292491en_GB
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292491
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/134780
dc.identifierORCID: 0000-0001-7722-9522 (Arthur, Rudy)
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_GB
dc.relation.urlhttps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8257690en_GB
dc.relation.urlhttps://github.com/rudyarthur/w3wanalysisen_GB
dc.relation.urlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37878572en_GB
dc.rights© 2023 Rudy Arthur. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_GB
dc.titleA critical analysis of the What3Words geocoding algorithmen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2023-12-13T09:22:06Z
exeter.place-of-publicationUnited States
dc.descriptionThis is the final version. Available on open access from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recorden_GB
dc.descriptionData Availability Statement: The data and code used in this study are publicly available from the Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8257690) and from the Github repository (https://github.com/rudyarthur/w3wanalysis).en_GB
dc.identifier.eissn1932-6203
dc.identifier.journalPLoS Oneen_GB
dc.relation.ispartofPLoS One, 18(10)
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_GB
dcterms.dateAccepted2023-09-06
dc.rights.licenseCC BY
rioxxterms.versionVoRen_GB
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2023-09-06
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Reviewen_GB
refterms.dateFCD2023-12-13T09:16:22Z
refterms.versionFCDVoR
refterms.dateFOA2023-12-13T09:22:13Z
refterms.panelUnspecifieden_GB
refterms.depositExceptionpublishedGoldOA
refterms.dateFirstOnline2023-10-25


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© 2023 Rudy Arthur. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © 2023 Rudy Arthur. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.