Vietnam Post brings what3words to millions across Vietnam
Today, Tổng công ty Bưu điện Việt Nam – Vietnam Post, Vietnam’s postal service, has announced its cooperation with what3words in adopting the innovative location technology to their digital address system. Now, consumers and businesses across Vietnam can use Vietnam Post’s digital address system to find their what3words address by searching in the address field or clicking on any point of the map.
The current street address system in Vietnam and around the world has its multiple drawbacks. For example, street addresses do not always lead to the right place: postcodes are rarely used, addresses can be long and complex (lots of slashes), and sometimes duplicate street names exist. In fact, a large proportion of Vietnam’s urban network consists of small streets and narrow alleyways, some alleys don’t even have a name, but house over 85% of city dwellers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Informal addressing in Vietnam also means that customers have to pick up phone calls from delivery drivers, helping to direct them to the right location, which can be frustrating, time consuming, and hamper the overall delivery experience. This is a problem what3words is designed to solve.
what3words is revolutionising the way we communicate location. It has divided the globe into a grid of 3m x 3m squares, giving each square a unique combination of three words: a what3words address. Now, the front door to a large apartment complex entrance, a hidden entrance in an alleyway or a rural villa, all has its own what3words address. For example, ///bagpipes.hides.kennels will take you directly to the front entrance of Ho Chi Minh City Central Post Office, a famous and historic building in the city. what3words is available in over 50 languages to date, including Vietnamese, and is free to download on iOS and Android , and via the online map at what3words.com .
Businesses and consumers can use Vietnam Post’s digital address system at diachiso.gov.vn to search in the address field or click on any point of the map to discover their what3words address, in addition to their street address, Diachiso code and Plus Code. Once identified, this what3words address can be used for people to specify an exact delivery location – whether that’s a front door, hidden entrance, or in a narrow alleyway.
Le Quoc Anh, Executive Vice President of Vietnam Post said: “As part of the effort to digitise the economy and build a digital society, Vietnam Post took part in the creation and operation of the digital address platform, contributing to the development of the digital ecosystem in the postal industry. Most notably, the digitisation of national addresses combined with virtual maps allowed e-commerce and digital postal service users to enjoy various utilities such as searching, creating codes, pinpointing locations, sharing addresses, navigating and managing location information. This has also created an ecosystem of open data.”
“We hope that the cooperation with what3words will help upgrade the digital address platform, thereby providing new experience for customers and businesses using Vietnam Post’s services. At the same time, we also hope to bring this digital address platform to every person and company. As one of the leading postal companies in Vietnam, Vietnam Post is always searching to adopt the latest technologies to better serve our customers,” Executive Vice President Le Quoc Anh added .
Chris Sheldrick, Co-Founder and CEO of what3words said: “It’s a significant milestone for what3words to be adopted by Vietnam’s leading postal service. Our technology has the potential to revolutionise addressing in the country, and it’s innovative companies like Vietnam Post that are helping us bring what3words to millions of people that will benefit from it the most.”
what3words is experiencing rapid growth in Vietnam. Since its launch in the market last year, what3words has partnered with leading Vietnamese brands, such as VinFast, which has integrated the location technology into its full fleet of electric vehicles. E-commerce giant Hoa Sen Việt Group became the first consumer retailer to add a what3words field at checkout, so customers of Reebok Vietnam, Beauty Box and TheFaceShop can get their parcels delivered to their most accurate location. Following suit, Kilo, a Vietnam-based B2B e-commerce app has adopted what3words to enhance delivery experience for wholesalers and businesses, and 7Eleven has also added a what3words field at checkout, so food deliveries can arrive at the right place and on time. Users of Vietnam’s leading public transport app, BusMap, can navigate to precise what3words addresses, transforming multimodal city travel.
what3words is being used by millions across the world. The technology has been adopted by leading automakers to enable drivers to navigate to precise destinations with ease. E-commerce and logistics companies such as DHL and Domino’s Pizza are using the technology to collect precise delivery locations at checkout, and to make sure goods arrive exactly where they’re needed. Companies such as Lonely Planet use what3words to help travellers find hotel entrances and hidden gems. Emergency call centres are also embracing what3words at a rapid pace, with control rooms in the UK, US, Singapore, and beyond all utilising the innovative technology. Just like street addresses, what3words addresses are being displayed on website contact pages, event invites, and business cards, so people can find exact destinations with ease. And every day, what3words is being used to help people arrange meet-ups in parks, on beaches and to share running, hiking, and sports match locations.
