I like what3words - it's about as good as you can get for the same goofy idea. Those ubicate names are shorter but ... ugly. I like that my data centre is at *fish.wages.jelly but not TACEGE-CARAFAN.
If I'd heard my office name over the phone using the ubicate system I might instead head for http://ubicate.me/TACEGE-CARAVAN ... which looks to be about 30 miles off the coast of Holland, not on the York ring road :-)
So I get the idea, but this algorithm produces awful names.
what3words noticed that you needs less than 1800 words to assign a combination of 3 words to every square meter on earth, so those words can be chosen to be different from each other, unambiguous, common etc. Still ENGLISH and not very international, but it's a much better idea.
Totally agree, What3words is way better for communication. But even there, if you read me the locator, I have no idea where the location is. With traditional addresses, I have a good idea of where things are, and how I might get there, just by hearing the address, the same is true with lat/lon or MGRS to a lesser extent. This system means I need a device to figure out where anything is.
This whole idea seems like a variation on "the world would be better if only it was run by computer logic" (where better = more orderly and machine readable). For whatever reason, other considerations (cultural affinity, convenience in a daily context, etc.) seem to be more important to most people.
They do support a lot of other languages, although the words aren't the same between languages as far as I can tell (so they can't be 'translated'). Still, I bet they cover most of the world's population in their local language.
And how does one achieve the sort of critical mass where the average person on the street knows their own home location?