ADDRESSING FIBER OPTICS UTILITIES WITH WHAT3WORDS.

Locating of fiber optic utilities made easier.

User: Mapping fibre optics projects with what3words and Jamii

25/01/2016/in Case Studies, Users /by giles

This is Noah. He uses what3words in Nairobi to map fibre optics projects for Jamii. Jamii is a Kenyan Company specialising in Data Transport using fiber. They provide carrier of carriers and end to end enterprise services. Jamii owns and operates an extensive fibre network including undersea, metro, national and fibre to home. Noah sent us an email telling us how he has been using what3words:

“Fibre Optics installation and maintenance involves the locating of man-holes, cabinets, end-closures, end-cases, crossing ducts, fibre optics routes and, of course, clients. This involves several departments in the organisation and communicating a precise location across each of them is fundamental to the smooth running of the business. However I found locating assets using the GPS coordinates given by other staff tedious and often time-consuming in the field. Mistakes are often made when taking down and communicating GPS coordinates. I particularly note this because our country is covered by four Geographical zones and all our staff traverse through all these zones.


I decided to try what3words, and instructed my field technicians to use it. We started by addressing clients’ buildings and their front gates. All the field technicians appreciated how easy it was to use what3words and found locating clients’ buildings much faster. We then expanded how we used what3words to include other assets like manholes and cabinets.
An example of a utility 3 word addresses:
CAB3     empty.palm.collision   Haile Selaisse Avenue.


The main gadget we use is a smartphone and all of our staff own one (or more). They no longer need to use complicated handheld GPS gadgets or to know which geographical zone they are in. No specialist technical systems skills are needed to discover or share an address or to then find any asset. It’s so easy.”

Thanks @Noah!