Imagine every place on Earth has its own simple address. Any torn hut in the middle of a desert, a lonely yurt hidden in plains of Mongolian steppe. It's already been settled in developed societies - every house has its number, it stands in a street with some name in a town or village that is named as well. But what about the remaining 4 billion people who don't have an address? With growing population and need to transport more and more people and goods from one place to another even our "civilized" system becomes inefficient and confusing. You might add that each place on Earth has it coordinates, latitude and longitude. Yes, it does, but would you dare to remember such coordinates? Or even dictate them to a taxi driver on the phone?

An elegant solution is offered by what3words. Young, ambitious and above all ridiculously smart project of a London startup, lead by a former music band (!!) manager Chris Sheldrick. In his former job, all the time he tackled problems with suppliers who couldn't find the service entrances to concert halls, stadiums etc., musicians who couldn't get to the place of their gig on time because they got lost on the way from the hotel... GPS didn't solve the issues, it's too technical and complicated, what's more, in cities with high rise buildings there was problem with GPS accuracy. And so the main idea was born - realized later in 2013 in cooperation with other founders of the what3words team - genial mathematician Mohan Ganesalingam and linguist and quiz freak Jack Waley-Cohen. A short introduction to all the possibilities word3word may provide can be seen in this video:

As it goes with genial projects, the principle of what3words is quite simple - the whole surface of the Earth is divided to a network of 3x3 metres squares. Each square is defined by a unique combination of three words. In several World languages and the number is still growing. And that's all folks. At least on the user side. You need only one - an app  that can search the three word address location on a map. Or the other way round, it assigns some place the address from database.

Locus has recently become one of such apps.

How to find and share a what3words address?

1) shift the map cursor to the place you want to know what3words address of. For instance, this picnic site:

2) tap Share (in default settings in the main menu > more functions, the button can be added also to the main screen)

3) select what3words

Share the address via services available in your phone or tablet.

How to find the place with the what3words address?

1) tap Search (in default settings in the topbar or main menu)

2) select what3words from the search methods (next time will be set as default)

3) insert what3words adddress and tap the magnifier button

The place with the address appears on the map.

The feature can be used anywhere on Earth. How simple! Of course, Locus offers even more options - you can share what3words addresses of your own points, of starting points of your planned routes, points of interest on map, of geocaches etc. What3words addresses can be displayed not only in Locus but also on the what3words web map or in their native app. And more supporting apps are coming. However, one thing is interesting - global map servers like Google Maps or Bing haven't been supporting this project yet.

Článek What3words, the simplest global addressing system came to Locus se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Not long ago we teased you about the Christmas giving by the 50% sale of the best outdoor navigation in the World - Locus Map Pro. We promised that it would not be all these holidays. Despite the promises should be fulfilled on the Christmas Day, we would rather fill them now, a few days before the feast. New Locus Map 3.21 is just coming. And what awaits us? There's a big lot of it, again, but let's go step by step:

And again the maps!

Ordnance Survey

We're beginning with the icing on the cake of this year: it's made of great hiking maps of the largest British cartography publishing house, Ordnance Survey. Their paper alter ego is supplied as Landranger an Explorer series. Landranger in original is in 1:50 000 scale and it's very suitable for long track cycling, multiple days on a hike, vacations or car tourism.

[caption id="attachment_10048" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Sherwood in Landranger[/caption]

A bit more detailed Explorer is in 1:25 000 scale and you'll welcome it on your running workouts, hiking, mountain biking or horseback trips. In such a large scale you'll miss no path.

[caption id="attachment_10049" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Sherwood in Explorer[/caption]

We in Locus team have prepared more than 400 map packages with the same mapsheet layout as Explorer maps, containing also Landranger and a few more overview zooms. Maps can be purchased in our Locus Store and used offline without internet connection.

IGN Belgium

The mosaic of the European countries coverage by premium maps has been enriched also by Belgian Institut Geographique National and its accurate and detailed topographic maps. After purchasing monthly or annual subscription the maps are available both for online viewing and for unlimited downloading of any area of Belgium for offline use.

U.S. National parks by NeoTreks

Awesome trail maps by NeoTreks, known also as AccuTerra maps, have been available in Locus since October 2016. We wrote about them when we were releasing the version 3.19. Until now the maps were available in so called free selection mode. It means you defined the map crop yourself. Now, for your better comfort, we've prepared 89 ready-made packages with maps of National parks and other recreational areas (national recreation areas, rivers, shores and preserves) in the United States. And if you would want more, we'll broaden the offer even more.

[caption id="attachment_10052" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Národní parky Kalifornie[/caption]

I share, you share, we share

Sharing is a mantra of today. Everything is shared, beginning with music, videos, funny gifs, cookies recipes, newborn babies photos to GPS location. And that's our domain. There are loads of sharing options, you know them from your smart mobile phone. Locus offers even more, and on the top, all in a new design and under one button:

Quick share of my current location

Tap the first item and all icons of your installed sharing apps appear. Locus can send a message through them, containing free Geohash.org link, displaying your location in several services at once, among others Google Maps, OpenStreet maps or Geocaching map:

Text message

This option can share location of your map cursor and of course also your location if it's the same (i.e. you have GPS fix). It offers more options of the text editing, it inserts your address and coords automatically. You can add your altitude, direct link to Google Maps or your GPS accuracy.

Facebook

You know well, sharing belongs to Facebook from the core of its definition. Locus can enhance the Facebook post by your address and a map and you can attach also description. We've also improved the track sharing:

What3words

Have you ever heard of What3words? If not, you'll hear soon. It's the newest coordinate system in the World, utilizing a network of 3x3 m squares. Each square is defined by three words and the network covers the whole World. Any place on Earth, therefore, has its own simple three-word address. And not only in English. Also Arabian, Russian or Mongolian and others are available. It's simple, genial and very quickly growing system and we couldn't stay behind with its implementation.

Screen sharing

You know this from before. Locus removes all buttons from your map screen and creates an image of it that you can send anywhere by mail, via messenger, Twitter or whatever sharing you've got installed on your mobile.

Sharing a KMZ file

This is  a bit geeky stuff. All you can see on your display, i.e. map, points, tracks, caches, all of it is packed in a file with KMZ suffix and can be shared. KMZ files can be visualized in other map tools, for instance in Google Earth.

Obligatory question - and that's it?

And an obligatory answer follows, of course not. The list of changes, modifications, improvements and fixes takes quite a lot of lines today.   Anyway, have a look yourself in Menu > About app. Just at random - a completely new 3D skyplot with satellites above your head:

Plus option to import GPSies.com routes directly to your own route folders and many minor things.

And finally, find a Christmas surprise in Locus and win 1000 LoCoins!

At midnight CET from 24th to 25th of December a Christmas surprise activates in Locus. Who is the first to find it, takes a picture of it (by screeenshot or a camera) and sends the picture to pr@asamm.com, wins 1000 LoCoins! That's  quite a bundle of maps under the tree isn't it?

The whole Locus team wishes you all beautiful and merry Christmas amongst your most beloved ones. And if we don't see each other then because we'll be also having rest during the Holidays, we wish you also a happy New year 2017!

Článek And finally, the best gift under the tree – Locus Map 3.21! se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.