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Is there a widely accepted open source alternative to What3Words?
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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Asklemmy
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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.
While Plus Codes are less memorable they are very easy to share verbally. Especially since you only need city + a few characters to be unambiguous. They are very useful any time you need to share a specific location (GPS-style)
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.
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:
8FW4V7+This large part of a city.8FW4+This part of the country.8F+This area of the world.If I was designing the system I don't think I would have done this "trailing zeros assumed" approach. Because IMHO for day-to-day use
V75V+Would be more useful as a shortcut for????V75V+rather than the actualV75V????+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.Ah, that all makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I can see this being really useful once apps have handled all the ways people might want to shorthand things.
https://plus.codes/ click ใ > Grid
The full plus-code is actually 8 characters before the plus and 2โ3 after. Usually you only need 4 to get within one city. Just like with phone numbers, where the first geographical part is often omitted.
Actually seeing the grid makes it way easier, I think. I bet there's a way to turn that on in the Google maps app itself.