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Navigate to your destination without using GPS

GeneralEdward Kiledjian
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I remember a time before Google maps when navigation meant buying paper maps from the petrol station and required a navigator. Then came the smartphone with its GPS magic powered by Google Maps, and our lives became instantly better. 

There are times when GPS is unreliable (like dense city centers), or you want to maximize your smartphone battery life, or there are times you simply don't want to give Google your precise location for privacy reasons. 

This is where an Android app called SmartNavi shines. SmartNavi uses steps to determine your location instead of an always-on GPS antenna. Without a GPS components, this app is more geared towards pedestrians, hikers, bikers, skateboarders or other non-car users. 

Your phone is a cornucopia of sensors and SmartNavi uses these to calculate your steps and then guesses your current location. At startup, the app connects to the internet and GPS to pinpoint your starting location but from that point on, no more cheating.

This means that even if you are walking in the densest downtown (like Hong Kong) or lose your internet connection, you will still be able to navigate. The app claims it can save 80% more battery (compared to Google Maps or Apple Maps) by not using the GPS antenna.

There is also the important notion of privacy. There are times you simply want to go somewhere without big brother looking over your shoulder (logging and then analyzing your travel patterns). Using the app is simple. You download it from the Google Play Store (Appstore); you open and set-up the app (first time) and then input your destination.

During the initial set-up, the app asks for your height. This isn't to profile you but to better calculate your steps.


Obviously, this isn’t the perfect app for everyone but it does meet a unique need for many smartphone users.

The best way to share your location with friends or family

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Let's say you are meeting friends at a large outdoor concert, how do you provide your location? A street address may get them to the entrance gate, then what? What3words has proposed a solution that solves the issue of finding exact locations on a map?

What3words has divided the entire planet into 57 trillion 3mx3m grids and assigned each grid a unique three-word "address".  

If I want to meet friends at the entrance of Union Station in Toronto, I can search for "Union Station" in Google maps, and it will take me to the building but not necessarily the front entrance:

Or I can give my friends the What3Words address for the main entrance 3mx3m square which is: tens.listed.surviving

The What3Words address takes them directly to the entrance where I want to meet them. No ambiguity and no confusion.

In most western countries, we have mailing addresses but these aren't always easy to find. The most accurate mechanism has been latitude and longitude (which would look like this 43°38'43.3"N 79°22'51.9"W). Obviously, the three-word descriptor is easier to communicate and remember than the latitude/longitude. 

The entire world is mapped using about 40,000 words (it is available in multiple languages including French, Spanish, Arabic and more). Obviously, great care has gone into choosing the words to ensure there is nothing offending and no double meanings.  They have assigned more common words to locations in major centers. 

What3Words claims their tech is being used in over 170 countries by dozens of organizations from delivery companies (Aramex) to disaster relief coordination in the Philipines by the Red Cross. 

The entire mapping can be downloaded for use offline and consumes about 10MB of space. They are partnering with companies to build this tech into third-party apps. 

I really think this is a wonderfully unique approach to a problem everyone experiences and I hope more companies start using the What3Words technology. In the meantime, you can download their free Android and IOS app to get started. You can find the What3Words location address or navigate to any What3Words address (using your favorite Nav app installed on your IOS or Android phone (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze).

Android App showing the entrance of Union Station

Once you enter a three-word address, you can click on the navigate app and it will send the exact GPS coordinates to the location to any GPS app installed on your device.

Once you enter a three-word adress, you can share the exact location using any messaging app installed on your smartphone (Google Messages, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc).