Tired: What3Words. Wired: A clone location-tracking service based on FOUR words – and they are all extremely rude
- Reference: 1628926988
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/14/sweary_four_word_map/
- Source link:
FourKingMaps, which appears to have been put together using the same basic principles as What3Words, copies the same basic approach as W3W but uses four words – and very sweary words at that.
Both sites work by breaking the UK up into 3x3m squares and assigning a unique combination of words to each one. For example, the tourist entrance to the Houses of Parliament is located at "fiddlesticks.busty.suckmyass.barfface" or, in the W3W version, "lions.banana.using".
[1]
There has been [2]some controversy over W3W lately; the location-finding app claims to avoid collisions (in the cryptographic sense) between similar-sounding words but may not in fact achieve that noble aim. It matters because W3W has been promoting itself to emergency services as a reliable location-finding technology, even though there are a [3]number of [4]examples of it not working as well as established technologies such as Ordnance Survey or GPS coordinates.
[5]
[6]
Infosec boffin Andrew Tierney [7]analysed the algorithms underpinning W3W's location-assigning tech and concluded that the risk of homophones cropping up close to each other was much higher than previously thought.
But all of that's very serious and what you're here for, dear reader, is gratuitous swearing. So without further ado we'll take you on a Big Tech Co tour of the UK, courtesy of [8]FourKingMaps .
[9]Ordnance Survey to take a poke at Pokémon-style gaming with outdoorsy AR adventure
[10]UK's National Cyber Security Centre recommends password generation idea suggested by El Reg commenter
[11]AWS Location Service aims to rescue devs from lock-in with 'business and programming models of a single provider'
[12]One map to rule them all: UK's Ordnance Survey rolls out its Data Hub and the juicy API goodness that lies therein
Capita's London HQ can be found by visiting "tart.hardcore.explosivediarrhea.poontang" (sadly FourKingMaps doesn't yet have a linking function so you'll have to visit it by copy and pasting). HPE's United Kingdom headquarters in Winnersh can be located through the delightful address "hitler.ninny.spitroast.rustytrombone".
Oracle's London field office is said to be visible from "cuck.pisskidney.dingleberry.shaft" (a junction near One South Place in the capital), while Microsoft's UK campus near Reading can be viewed in all its magnificence by standing at "shitdick.skankywhore.pussy.creampie" (look, we don't make these up, the algorithm does it).
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Apple's British flagship store is located at the very repeatable "teabagging.cumwipe.abortion.spitroast" (not a judgment on its Oxford Circus location, honest) while IBM's salubrious Portsmouth digs are at "cumdumpster.camgirl.hitler.rapscallion".
So who created this and why?
"I created a unique 4 swear word identifier for every 3m by 3m (approx) square in the UK & Ireland. I wanted to know where 'wanker cunt arse fuck' was and it turns out it's in Darlington," says its creator on the FourKingsMap website.
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On reflection, we don't want to ask too many questions so we'll leave it there. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YReUW9aWjC2TH3joErdKjgAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56901363
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797
[4] https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2020/09/13/lost-lakeland-walkers-what3words-message-put-them-outside-the-uk
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YReUW9aWjC2TH3joErdKjgAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YReUW9aWjC2TH3joErdKjgAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://cybergibbons.com/security-2/what3words-the-algorithm/
[8] https://www.fourkingmaps.co.uk/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/ordnance_survey_ar_game/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/09/ncsc_secure_passwords_three_words_advice/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/17/aws_location_service/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/01/os_data_hub/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YReUW9aWjC2TH3joErdKjgAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YReUW9aWjC2TH3joErdKjgAAAQo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
WHat Three Words - commercial algorithim that cant be shared without license payment
so you want to tie the ability to tell someone where you are to a commercial service?
Brilliant just brilliant didnt we go through this over a hundred years ago and decided it was not optimal
yes yes we did...
dont use what three words, it has errors and is annoying
scarily enough someone at google mapping tried not to be evil and set open location codes free
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Location_Code
if you want an Evaluation of Location Encoding Systems [2]https://github.com/google/open-location-code/wiki/Evaluation-of-Location-Encoding-Systems
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Location_Code
[2] https://github.com/google/open-location-code/wiki/Evaluation-of-Location-Encoding-Systems
Re: WHat Three Words - commercial algorithim that cant be shared without license payment
so you want to tie the ability to tell someone where you are to a commercial service?
Well, the public service is in desperate need to monetize common day activities a bit more to pay for all those services. Therefore, a 1p fee will be owed in taxes for each and every use of a street name, name of village, city or other areal named location and any use of numbered indicators for the purpose of identifying a building on a street.
That will make us all rich because the public sector will redistribute all this wealth. See, problem solved.
My kind of application
As one who was sad that Viz' long-discontinued Roger's Profanisaurus app stoped working with last year's revision of iOS (out-of-date signing key), this is just the kind of thing I'm in favor of.
I looked up Trump...
The site still hadn't stopped swearing at me after an hour. Definitely WAY more than a mere four words.
useless f*cking w*nkers
Unfortunately those three words do not seem to act as a wildcard to locate every bank HQ in the country........
Not my kind of humor, but
I salute the technical realization of it.
As for What3Words, given that we have access to GPS these days, I really don't see the point.
Then again, it's the Internet. There doesn't have to be a point.
Re: Not my kind of humor, but
The point of W3W is to have a secret, proprietary algorithm and to charge people for using it. Free for end users though, to encourage uptake.
Genius, i'm off to work now to squirting.bareback.camgirl.penis (actually this is my ex employer LOL)