We completely rethought how addressing works and designed a new system specifically for voice.

When people try to enter locations into technology using voice, the experience is frustrating, inaccurate and time-consuming. Addresses contain non-dictionary words, inconsistent structures, homophones and duplicates, meaning that even advanced speech recognition often misunderstands and people end up at the wrong place. Addresses can only be used if you speak the local language, and they only exist for buildings – but many places people want to find don’t have an address at all.

what3words has assigned every 3 metre square in the world a unique combination of 3 dictionary words. This means people can now say just 3 words, in any of 22 languages to date, to easily, reliably and accurately input a precise location, anywhere in the world.

We designed an addressing system that minimises the potential for confusion. Every 3 word address is unique, unlike road and town names, and they’re made from dictionary words evaluated by native speakers via a meticulous process to be the simplest and best-understood words in each language. Homophones (like sail and sale) have been removed. Our algorithm has placed the shortest and simplest words in the most populated areas, prioritising countries where that language is spoken. Unlike any other addressing system, similar addresses are spaced far apart, allowing optimisation of results based on the user’s current location.

what3words Voice is powered by an algorithm that examines the options returned by a speech recognition system such as Nuance when a 3 word address is entered, then evaluates these based on where they are in the world in relation to the speaker. We refined the accuracy further by making over 200,000 recordings of native speakers reading 3 word address. This allowed us to return the correct location to the user an incredible 95% of the time.

what3words Voice is available via a free app that interfaces with many popular apps, enabling people to speak locations into apps that aren’t yet voice-enabled such as Google Maps, Citymapper, Waze and Uber. With our easy-to-use developer tech and varied languages, we have made our technology accessible for people worldwide to build with in a scalable and sustainable way.

What3words Voice is available in over 12 million Mercedes-Benz and Ford cars, and used to route drones and order Ubers via Alexa skills. The potential for people and industries to benefit is huge – from delivery drivers having a quick, safe and hands-free way to enter their next location, to blind or disabled people being able to order a taxi or a delivery using voice.