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People Fixing The World

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Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.

Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.

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People Fixing The World: Addressing the World in Three Words

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Addressing the World in Three Words

24/10/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, Addressing the World in Three Words

Could an app, that divides the world into 3m squares, give everyone a unique address?

Four billion people on the planet don't have an address. Could a smartphone app, that divides the world up into 3m squares, be the solution?

Around 75% of the world's population, approximately four billion people, do not have an address. Take a country like Mongolia, with a largely nomadic population, where street names and postcodes can be few and far between. But that could all be changing thanks to just three words. Mongolia's Postal Service was the first in the world to sign up to What3Words, an idea from a British former music executive fed up of bands and equipment constantly getting lost. He has divided the entire world into 3m squares and given each one a different three word phrase, and it could mean that everyone in the world will soon have an address.

Presenter: Tom Colls
Producer: Harriet Noble

(Photo: What3Words divides up the world. Credit: Google Maps

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