Sygic app adopts what3words for precise location search

Sygic has announced the integration of what3words' location technology into its GPS Navigation app, making it accessible to Premium+ users.

The collaboration highlights the challenges with traditional street addresses, which often fail to provide precise locations for entry points, parks, and events. "Street addresses often aren't accurate enough to direct individuals to precise locations, such as specific building entrances or meeting points in parks, and postcodes cover large areas," the press release stated.

What3words addresses this issue by dividing the globe into a grid of 3 by 3 metre squares, each assigned a unique three-word combination. This gives each location, such as building entrances, campsites, and stalls, its own what3words address, allowing users to navigate to precise spots seamlessly.

An example from Sygic's headquarters in Bratislava is ///mulls.surging.quibble, which directs users to its front door. This system is designed to minimise errors associated with traditional addressing, and it's available in more than 60 languages, including Spanish, French, and Slovak.

Lukas Dermek, Head of Sygic Navigation Product, said, "We believe Sygic GPS Navigation can now offer a broader scale of address search that in many cases may be a better fit for our users. what3words addresses are more precise than a street address and more memorable than 16-digit GPS coordinates. Using just three words, users can easily find, share and navigate to precise locations anywhere in the world."

Chris Sheldrick, Co-founder and CEO of what3words, commented, "With what3words now part of Sygic GPS Navigation, premium users can experience unmatched precision and simplicity in finding and navigating to exact locations. This integration builds on years of successful collaboration with Sygic's innovative team and the rollout marks a major milestone in our mission to help everyone talk about everywhere."

What3words addresses are already widely used globally in various sectors, from business contact pages to travel guides. They can be accessed through the Sygic GPS Navigation app, the what3words app, or online on the what3words website.

With its vision to guide every person on the move, Sygic navigation apps have reached over 200 million downloads. Its solutions for the enterprise sector are navigating more than 4,000 fleets and 5 million professional drivers globally. The company was the first offline navigation vendor supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Co-founded in London in 2013 by Chris Sheldrick, what3words is a simple way to talk about precise locations. A what3words address is a human-friendly way to share very precise locations with other people, or to input them into platforms and machines such as ride-hailing apps or e-commerce checkouts and car navigation systems. It is optimised for voice input and contains built-in error prevention to immediately identify and correct input mistakes. what3words has a team of over 100 people, across offices in the UK, Germany, Vietnam, Trinidad & Tobago and Mongolia. The company has raised over £100 million in capital from investors such as Intel, Ingka (Ikea), Mercedes-Benz, Aramex, Deutsche Bahn, Subaru and Sony Innovation Fund.