[mcintyre1994]

The examples given here seem like the best case of it going wrong, they’re in a different country and UK rescuers know within seconds that they’re wrong.

I think this case further down is much more concerning:

> He found that the algorithm behind W3W often gave similar-sounding words and plural versions of words for locations in close proximity, which could cause confusion.

> So, for example, circle.goal.leader and circle.goal.leaders are less than 1.2 miles (2km) apart along the River Thames.

I wonder if the algorithm could somehow make it so similar sounding words like this aren’t anywhere near each other physically. It’s not as big a problem that leader and leaders sound the same, if you guarantee that only one of them is in the UK or at least within the same city/national park etc.

[gambiting]

It's literally in the article:

"So, for example, circle.goal.leader and circle.goal.leaders are less than 1.2 miles (2km) apart along the River Thames."

That's potentially catastrophic, without an easy way to spot the mistake.

[mdoms]

That's the exact example used in the comment you're replying to...?

[gambiting]

Unless I was asleep replying(there is a 5% chance of that), I'm pretty sure their comment didn't say that at the time.

[stouset]

Such an example is presented in the article.