Mapbox now supports what3words in Dash, for precise in-car navigation
Mapbox has added what3words to Mapbox Dash, making it easy for car makers to integrate what3words into their vehicles. Developers can now integrate what3words directly into the underlying Mapbox APIs and SDKs that power Dash, enabling them to create custom applications that combine the two technologies.
Mapbox, a mapping and location cloud platform for developers, now offers what3words support in Dash , their turnkey application that car makers use to create custom in-car navigation. Mapbox developers can benefit from the latest and most comprehensive mapping and geocoding tools alongside what3words, allowing drivers to navigate to any precise 10ft square.
what3words location technology is changing the way we approach addressing. It has organized the globe into 57 trillion 10ft squares and given each one a unique combination of three words: a what3words address. For example, if a driver needs to navigate to an exact 3 meter square for a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, they can enter /// usual.trying.highs .
Mapbox developers can now easily enable the technology and use what3words from their Dash-powered application or follow a step-by-step guide for using what3words directly with the underlying Mapbox SDKs and APIs. End users can search and navigate to precise locations using a what3words address, eliminating many of the frustrations encountered by drivers when entering regular street addresses.
Traditional addresses are often long and complex, which makes them difficult to enter into navigation systems. They are also sometimes imprecise, covering a large area and introducing ambiguity when a precise location is needed.
Drivers can now use what3words inside Mapbox-powered apps to discover incredible places that don’t have an address, like hiking trails, beaches, specific parking spots or EV charging points. Just like traditional addresses, 3 word addresses are being used all over the world in guide books like Lonely Planet, restaurant listings, hotel booking confirmation and invitations.
Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO of what3words explains that: “Millions of daily journeys and deliveries are reliant upon digital maps for live updates on traffic and sophisticated route optimisation. But addressing – the infrastructure that underpins how people interact with digital maps – has largely been unchanged. The difficulties of traditional street addressing worldwide, which is often irregular, incomplete and insufficiently accurate, makes finding a specific location and communicating it to others an imperfect science. This integration with Mapbox brings a simple way to enable our address system to the millions of users that use Mapbox services every day”.
Alex Barth, Head of Automotive at Mapbox added that “Our cloud-based platform already allows millions of users to access the best live information – now we’re adding in what3words as a convenient way to enter destinations via voice or virtual keyboard. This makes Mapbox Dash compatible with systems that already use what3words and offers unambiguous address entry with pinpoint accuracy to drivers” .
Read more about Mapbox’s approach to this easy to use solution on their blog here .
