what3words coverage in The Irish Times

1. From ancient Babylon to Ptolemy, from
Mercator to Google Maps, the process of
mapping the world has represented one of
the greatest technological achievements
ofhumanity.
Wehavecomealongwaysincetheearli-
estatlases,withaGPSsysteminnearlyeve-
ryone’s pockets. And yet, despite having a
satellite’s perspective of the planet at our
fingertips, the challenge of addressing the
world remains a stubbornly difficult prob-
lemto solve.
Even in developed western cities, the
combinationofsmartphonesandstreetad-
dresses can lead us astray with surprising
frequency.
Asfor theapproximatelyfourbillionliv-
inginthe135orsomostlydevelopingcoun-
tries that the UN says lack a properly func-
tioning addressing system, and particular-
lyfor thenearly900millionorsopeoplein
the rapidly expanding favelas and infor-
mal urban settlements across the world,
thechallengeisinfinitely greater.
“One of the biggest preconceptions is
that the world is well-addressed,” says
Giles Rhys Jones, the marketing director
of What3Words, a three-year-old British
start-upthathasdevisedaningenioussolu-
tion to the problem. “But actually, when
youlookat it,it’squite poorlyaddressed.”
While latitude and longitude co-ordi-
nates can accurately pinpoint any location
on the planet, the strings of numbers and
characters are not exactly designed with
humanusersin mind.
Chris Sheldrick, the founder of
What3Words, repeatedly experienced
that first-hand when running a large-scale
music events company, which involved
moving equipment from location to loca-
tion, and the seemingly basic issue of get-
tingthingsfromplacetoplacebecameare-
curringnightmare.
Tackleafresh
Frustratedbythelogisticalproblems,Shel-
drickand amathematician friend began to
tackle the issue afresh. The surface area of
Earth is about 510.1 million km²; if you
break it down into 3m x 3m squares, you
get about 57 trillion squares. Most previ-
ous attempts at geocoding locations have
used a purely mathematical approach, but
Sheldrick and his friend came upon the
idea of using words, which are more easily
memorised by people than strings of num-
bers.
Using the most common 40,000 words
inEnglishincombinationsofthreecreates
some 64 trillion combinations, more than
enoughto denoteevery3m² ontheplanet.
Theydevelopedanalgorithmtorandom-
ly allocate three word combinations for
every part of the planet, down to a very
highresolution.
Using the What3Words system for the
IrishTimesbuildingonTaraStreetinDub-
lin, then, instead of a lat-long co-ordinate
of 53°20’45.5”N 6°15’17.4”W, you get a far
more usable three-word address of
“stocks.employ.rests”.
“We’ve put shorter more memorable
words in places that speak that language.
We have taken out homophones, rude
words – there’s a lot of work put in to the
wordlist,” saysRhysJones.
“We’ve also put similar sounding words
really far apart, to avoid issues you can
have with lat-long or other systems: if I put
in table chair lamp instead of table chair
lamps,oneisin Americaand theotheris in
Australia. It’s a built-in error detection
that both human and system can see. It is a
verysimpleconcepttounderstand,butun-
derneath there is a lot of stuff going on. I
sayindex.home.raft,andinunderfivesec-
ondsIhavegivenyou averyprecise square
ontheplanetthat you canunderstand.
“It is a user-friendly version of co-ordi-
nates.”
The concept isn’t restricted to English,
of course – What3 Words currently works
in10languages,withanother15indevelop-
ment. And best of all, the entire system
takes up just 10mb or so of space, meaning
it can easily be downloaded on to a smart-
phoneor GPSdevice.
Itissoconceptuallysimplethatitmakes
the ¤38 million spent on the controversial
Eircode system here seem like an even
more astonishing amount of money to es-
tablish a postcode system that nobody
uses.
“Generally around the world, poor ad-
dressing causes three things,” says Rhys
Jones. “First frustration for people. Then,
massivebusiness inefficiencies–UPShave
said that if they can save each of their driv-
ers one mile a day, that’s a $50 million sav-
ingforthem.Andthenyougetthemoresig-
nificant stuff – if aid doesn’t get delivered
to the right places, if disease outbreaks
can’t be monitored, if slums and informal
settlements can’t be addressed, actually
thatcosts lives.”
RhysJones says that What3 Words is al-
ready in use by postal services in favelas in
Brazilthatwerepreviouslyenormouslydif-
ficult to deliver post to, as well as aid agen-
cies,suchasoneinTanzaniatrackingchol-
eraoutbreaks.
Later this year, An Garda Síochána will
be testing What3Words to assist event
planningand security at events such as the
ploughingchampionships.
TheWhat3Wordsbusinessmodelrelies
on licensing the underlying APIs to busi-
nesses, such as courier companies, who
can incorporate the technology into their
products, and last year it completed a $3.4
million second round of financing from In-
tel Capital. Ultimately, the goal is to be
built in to established mapping platforms
suchasGoogle Maps.
“We’re unashamedly on a mission to
change the world, and to do that we want
tobeagloballyacceptedstandardforanad-
dress,”saysRhys Jones.
“It is about democratising addressing.
There are four billion people in the world
that don’t have an address, and now they
haveaway totalk about where they live.”
DavinO’Dwyer
Freelancingandtheso-calledgigeconomy
has been on the rise now for a long time.
Freelancers’Union,aUnitedStatesorgani-
sation, says that a quarter of the American
workforceare now project-based workers,
while Accenture estimates up to 30 per
centofthetotalworkforcefalls outsidethe
traditional full-time permanent relation-
ship.
There at least five good reasons why or-
ganisationsuseagile talent: leveragingthe
increased availability of people, reducing
costs, avoiding adding permanent head-
count, increasing the speed of getting
thingsdone, andchallenging theorganisa-
tions’ thinking and assumptions with out-
sideideas.
As this book by two senior figures from
the management consulting firm RBL
notes,ascompetitionacceleratesandinno-
vators disrupt, the need for expertise on
tap continues to expand. Far from being
cheapand disposable, much of this human
capital is comprised of highly trained and
valuableexpertise.
The term “cloud resourcing” is used in
this context with its obvious similarities to
the way information technology resources
canbeaccessedon an“on demand”basis.
There are clear advantages but there
are also challenges. In a recent survey, 50
per cent of IT department heads reported
frustrations with service partners, claim-
ing promises of high touch and attention
wereinconsistentwiththerealityoncecon-
tracts were signed. Goals can be unrealis-
tic, flexibility not as great as expected and
costs can mount unexpectedly as new ser-
vices are added. Some 25 per cent of out-
sourcing relationships die within two
years;only50 percentsurvive five years.
Onereasonsuggestedhereforthisattri-
tion is too often purchasing departments
make the selection decision while operat-
ing managers – excluded from that deci-
sion process – are nonetheless expected to
make the relationship work. Purchasing
wants the lowest price and a fixed cost,
whereas operations want the best re-
source,agoodculturalfitandenoughflexi-
bilityinthecontracttoallowforchangesin
scope or strategy. Insiders can feel threat-
ened by exter-
nal talent and
consultants
don’talwaysun-
derstand the
nuances and
politics of or-
ganisations.
External tal-
ent has issues
too, often be-
moaning the
slow, com-
plex and bu-
reaucratic
way organi-
sations
work.
Viewing
external
talent as
“separate and not equal”
is not a strategy that will work anymore
and, according to the authors, this is the
key to successfully managing these rela-
tionships. In their research, they have
found the organisations that get the most
from their agile talent are those that used
the most effective techniques in engaging,
motivatingand buildingteams.
Too often these external individuals,
however, feel merely tolerated or viewed
with suspicion by employees while at the
same time feeling unappreciated by man-
agementandpowerlessindealingwiththe
administrative bureaucracy of the organi-
sation.
Alignmentcriteria
Four key success factors are identified.
The first is strategic alignment. Is the or-
ganisation disciplined enough to identify
where agile talent and cloud resourcing
are beneficial, and does the work have the
right level of sponsorship, budget and
time? The second is performance align-
ment. Are performance expectations de-
fined,establishedandcommunicated?
Then there’s relationship alignment
whichrelatestoculturalfitbeingasimpor-
tantastechnicalexpertise.Thefinalfactor
isadministrativealignment, which consid-
ers whether the organisation is set up to
work well with externals or whether it
treats them badly. The book contains tools
to test your organisation’s alignment
across these criteria and recommenda-
tionsabout howto addresseacharea.
The authors also suggest we are enter-
ing an era in which organisations will re-
cruit external partners in a similar fashion
to their internal management hires and
that the HR function will play a major role
in attracting, engaging and building rela-
tionships with high-performing agile tal-
ent. Organisations will also invest more in
externaltalentorientationto closethecul-
tural gaps, especially in situations where
an individual’s talents are exemplary and
rare.
Thiswell-researched book will prove in-
teresting not only to chief executives and
HRleaders,buttothemanypeoplenowop-
erating in the gig economy who will hope
that some of its key messages resonate
withthosewhoemploythem.
‘‘
Mappingtheworldwiththreelittle
wordsforeverylocationonplanet
Innovation
From Cyber Security to the Cloud,
the new Thinktech magazine
provides insights into the fast-
paced technology sector.
Available exclusively
at irishtimes.com
from Friday 22nd
April 2016.
Thinktech is a
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published by
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Content Studio
for Grant Thornton.
#GTtech
Start-upaimstoeliminate
problemsacrossglobe
causedbypooraddressing
Agile Talent: How To Source
And Manage Outside Experts
Jon Younger and Norm Smallwood. Harvard
Business Review Press. ¤29.99 hardback
AnGarda
Síochánawill
betesting
What3Words
tohelpevent
planningand
eventsecurity
■ System creators developed an
algorithm to randomly allocate
three-word combinations for every three
metre square piece of the planet, down
to a very high resolution
Booked
Frank Dillon
Howfirmswork
bestwith‘gig
economy’of
freelancers
12
THE IRISHTIMES
Monday,April18,2016