Since it launched a decade ago, What3words has become a global success story, but its origins are bedded in rural life in Hertfordshire. Co-founder Chris Sheldrick explains all to Rebecca Pitcairn
Alert.layers.fell; lamp.image.inhaled; pounce.grades.defenders*. It may sound like these are just random words, but they are in fact the co-ordinates of three of the world’s most iconic landmarks, according to geolocation app what3words.
The addressing system, which is designed to identify any location with a resolution of about three metres, is now used by billions of people to find, share and describe places across the globe. However, its origins stem from rural Hertfordshire, where co-founder Chris Sheldrick grew up on a farm in Hinxworth, just outside Ashwell.
“A lot of my childhood was spent flagging down lost delivery drivers, as the address to our home actually directed people to the house across the road, or occasionally a nearby pond,” the 41-year-old tells me when we sit down to chat about the business as it approaches its 10th anniversary. “It was as if I was primed for what3words, right from the beginning having lived in Hinxworth, with no one ever finding us.”
It wasn’t until a couple of decades later, having immersed himself in the local music scene in Harpenden and then begun work in the music industry organising live events around the world, that Chris’ frustration with the traditional street address system returned.
“Getting lost trying to find events was pretty common,” he remembers. “On one occasion, in Italy, a driver unloaded all the equipment an hour north of Rome, instead of an hour south of Rome. And on a slightly worse day, a keyboard player called me and said, ‘Chris, don’t panic, but we may have just sound-checked at the wrong wedding’.”
Because street addresses aren’t accurate enough to specify precise locations, such as building entrances or exits, and don’t exist for parks and many rural areas, Chris began sharing GPS coordinates to try and get people and equipment to the right places. However, entering 16 numbers into a device was time consuming and prone to error. So, he decided to find a solution. He and a mathematician friend from school, Mohan Ganesalingam, discussed the idea of using words to create a more usable version of the latitude and longitude coordinate system and came up with an early version of the what3words algorithm on the back of an envelope.
“To put it really simply, we’ve taken the globe, divided it into a grid of three metre squares and given each one a unique address made of three random words. For example, the entrance to Hatfield House is upgrading.puns.aura. It’s a really easy way to find, identify, and share locations, anywhere in the world,” explains Chris, who brought on another school friend with a background in translation, Jack Waley-Cohen, to help adapt the system for the global market.
The ingenious concept, which launched in 2013, is now available in over 50 languages meaning that five billion people can use what3words in their native tongue. The technology puts an end to what has become a daily frustration for delivery drivers, postal workers and any business that relies on navigation. But it’s also fun and a little addictive. Prior to our interview, I spent a good hour typing in various locations of significance to me, such as my primary school, the place I got married and my husband’s favourite golf course, to see what combination of words corresponded.
“It was never intended to be like that, we never designed it to be quirky or fun, it was purely functional,” Chris admits. “But even when we made the first version ourselves, the first thing we did was look up our own houses to see what the words were. It certainly makes people engage with it. Sometimes people go and buy a sign for their house of their words and hang it up, people have even started tattooing them – the words for places they got married etc, so it’s become quite cool.”
There is a far more serious side to the app however. Over the past five years, emergency services around the globe have adopted the technology to assist them in saving lives.
Indeed, the first known use of what3words in an emergency situation was in 2018 when Hertfordshire Fire Service attended a campfire in a remote location in the county.
“That same afternoon I stood in the Hertfordshire Fire Service control room in Stevenage and spoke with their team directly about how we had been used,” says Chris. “They have been hugely supportive throughout our nationwide rollout.”
The technology is now used by 85% of police, fire, and ambulance services across the UK and has been used for everything from reporting fires and rescuing pets to locating callers mid-heart attack with pinpoint accuracy.
“In 2021, a young man called Joe Mason called the ambulance from the side of the motorway while his dad was having a heart attack in the car,” Chris says of one example. “After providing his what3words address, the ambulance arrived in a matter of minutes, saving his dad’s life from what could have been a fatal heart attack.”
Chris met Joe, 22, and his 57-year-old dad, Gary, during filming for a special episode of BBC’s Crimewatch, which was covering the story. “It’s always very humbling to hear from people who have used what3words in an emergency situation,” he says. “It was a very emotional morning. Gary looked at me and said, ‘your app saved my life’. And they had tried to tell the ambulance where they were and they couldn’t, so I do believe Gary may not be here had they not used us.”
Elsewhere in the world, the technology has helped firefighters find some missing teen girls lost in a park in Tennessee, while in Germany, a control room in Bavaria used it to rescue a victim who had fallen off his mountain bike and fractured his ankle on a hiking trail to the Geroldsgrüner Forest.
In a sign that what3words will soon become a global standard, some of world’s largest car manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Land Rover, have integrated the technology into their in-car navigation systems, while well-known companies like DHL, DPD, Evri have incorporated the address system into their delivery apps. It’s also now listed on websites by brands such as Boohoo as a way of providing a delivery address.
“Our big vision is to be a globally known piece of technology that people and businesses use and interact with every day,” Chris says of his vision for the future. “We want people to see what3words addresses on a business card, at an e-commerce check-out, on a contact page, we want them to type them into search bars, post on social media or say them into a voice assistant.”
From birdwatchers to cavers and horseriders to coastguards, seeing the growing number of ways the technology is used across the globe, continues to be one of the most interesting parts of the business for Chris and his team.
“It felt very surreal when the tree survey came in for our farm a couple of weeks ago, each tree’s location was marked with a what3words address by the tree surgeon on the report, completely unprompted,” he says. “I’m sure they didn’t know I had anything to do with what3words, but it was an amazing feeling that our tech had gone “full circle” from an idea which started from people getting lost trying to navigate rural Hertfordshire, to being used by local industry, yet with an incredible journey taking us all over the world in-between.”
(*The three locations at the beginning of this article are Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, and the Taj Mahal)
Chris Sheldrick’s pick of what3words
“One of my favourite what3words addresses has to be evaluate.video.nails – a three metre square deep in the northernmost part of Mongolia in a forest, where one of the world’s most remote Airbnbs resides and is run by members of the Reindeer Tribe. I was able to visit it and it’s a truly spectacular place.”
“When I’m not working, one of my favourite places to relax is Hollywood Bowl at Stevenage Leisure Park (salon.pushes.exams). It was an undeniable part of my youth which brought me endless enjoyment. I also love walking around Hatfield House, it’s such a stunning venue and I go to their annual classical music festival every year.”
“My local, The Three Horseshoes (predict.partners.necklaces), has a wonderful “local pub” feel and is excellent for food and a pint, but my favourite local business is Hixworth Garage. The proprietor, Normond, is as much a fabric of our local community as the church and pub, if not more! People come from far and wide, plenty from even outside the county to benefit from his broad experience.”
