<story><title>Show HN: WhatFreeWords: Open-Source Geocoding for What3Words</title><url>https://whatfreewords.org/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>noname120</author><text>What3words is patented[1]. If you compare the explanation of their free implementation[2] with the claims section of the patent, it seems very possible that it breaches the patent. In particular, the equations that are described in claim number 7 of the patent are exactly the same as in their explanations.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not a lawyer so I can&amp;#x27;t talk about whether it can be enforced in practice. But still, the fact that this open-source implementation doesn&amp;#x27;t reference the patent anywhere suggests that they didn&amp;#x27;t consider the legal implications properly.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patents.google.com&amp;#x2F;patent&amp;#x2F;WO2014170646A1&amp;#x2F;fr?oq=WO%2f2014%2f170646+&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;patents.google.com&amp;#x2F;patent&amp;#x2F;WO2014170646A1&amp;#x2F;fr?oq=WO%2f...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;whatfreewords.org&amp;#x2F;about.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;whatfreewords.org&amp;#x2F;about.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Show HN: WhatFreeWords: Open-Source Geocoding for What3Words</title><url>https://whatfreewords.org/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>philshem</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s a list of other alternatives to w3w&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;What3words#Alternatives&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;What3words#Alternatives&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>