Google Launchs Plus Codes – Giving all places in the world a shortcode

At first I thought that Google had purchased what3words[0] but it turns out that this is a completely independent offering. I like the idea of what3words but I feel like the Plus Codes might be more workable. For one thing you can shorten them by not using the global prefix. Also, you can sorta almost tell how close two locations might be with Plus Codes.

With what3words each location is easier to remember (it's just 3 words) but the locations don't have any commonality to them at all. So, its impossible to tell at a glance if two locations are anywhere near each other.

[0] https://what3words.com/