When calling the emergency medical services you may be in a location that is not always easy to describe or you may be lost on a mountain or on a remote country road. In some cases, your mobile phone signal can be triangulated and the EMS can find you but this is not always possible.
What3Words is an app that you can be downloaded to your smartphone that creates 3 different words that relate to a physical square of 3 metres by 3 metres. That way, by giving these words to the EMS, they can find you very easily, where ever you are. You can also use the what3words website to work out a location or to find exactly where you are. The what3words algorithm creates the three random words in a combination to enable both human and automated error checking so if the words are given slightly wrongly, it is still able to work out where someone is at.
Around 80 percent of the UK emergency services are now using what3words, as well as roadside assistance services like the AA, and many UK delivery companies. To find a location, you can visit the what3words website at www.what3words.com and then you can search a postcode or place, in this example, we are adding our office postcode, then on the map, we could pinpoint the front door of our offices. As you can see depending on which 3-metre box we select, the three words in the top left of the screen will change. So you select the right place, then you can note down your three words, so for our office front door the words are “hikes.apply.drums”.
If using the app, you simply open the app and it will show you exactly where you are and any saved locations you store. So for where I am right now, inside the studio, the what3words are “tint.clutter.locked” What3words is an excellent method of pinpointing an exact location and it works in every corner of the world. Give it a try.
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