What3words: The app that can save your life

[sl8]

From https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-49319760

What3words: The app that can save your life

By Duncan Leatherdale
BBC News
15 August 2019


WHAT3WORDS
What3words divides the world into 57 trillion squares, each with a unique three-word address

Police have urged everyone to download a smartphone app they say has already saved several lives. What is it and how does it work?

Kicked. Converged. Soccer.

These three randomly chosen words saved Jess Tinsley and her friends after they got lost in a forest on a dark, wet night.

They had planned a five-mile circular stroll through the 4,900 acre (2,000 hectare) woodland Hamsterley Forest, in County Durham, on Sunday evening, but after three hours they were hopelessly lost.

[...]

[NBachers]

1. I've downloaded the app and set it up.

[hlthe2b]

2. Interesting... n/t

[Nevilledog]

3. Very cool.

I drive back and forth from AZ to NM and there's a lot of pretty open land. This will ease the fear of breaking down in the middle of nowhere. Thank you for posting this.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Fascinating.

This is really amazing.

[Hortensis]

5. Thanks. I had fun choosing a square on our lower driveway

for our home (not all words suggested "home" by a long shot) and added a what3words address sign or picture to our Christmas list possibilities, though not sure who it'd be for. Maybe a coffee cup just to shake up things with our son in law, a relative who has everything he wants but at least can always use, and thus gets, golf balls.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. That's really cool.

I can't believe it's been around so long and this was the first I'd heard of it. Especially with the time I've spent in England. Mongolia changed its addresses to this in 2016???

[MurrayDelph]

7. Trying to download now

(There seems to be a delay).

I about to embark on a driving trip in Europe. I've already purchased a refurbished Magellan with European maps, but being a belt-and-suspenders guy extra safety options never hurt.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. It's definitely a drain on productivity.

Told some co-workers about it, so of course we spent at least half an hour comparing office and home addresses. Some really funny combos.

I wish we'd had this when my son graduated from FSU in May. We wasted a lot of time in blazing heat trying to find one another outside the arena after the ceremony. I can see so many uses for this app!

Too funny about "belt and suspenders kind of guy." My husband has told me on more than one (a hundred) occasion that if I were male, I'd be described as a "belt and suspenders kind of guy." Hey, people can make fun of me for that all they want. Who do they turn to in a jam?

[dalton99a]

9. It is a closed product being pushed by a for-profit company:

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-words/

[AndJusticeForSome]

10. I must be dense, I don't get it

I understand about simplifying things, for communicating location when you know where you are.

But, if you are lost, how does this help more than GPS?

[Duppers]

11. Same here.

Me: ❓

[AndJusticeForSome]

12. Not only that, but where I live, all you see are trees in the satellite images

I guess it will help me to name trees...

[Duppers]

13. Once lost my phone.

My son found it with GPS, within 50' of where GPS said it was. Amazing.

[lagomorph777]

14. Seems more like an obfuscation or a toy than something serious.

What's wrong with GPS/mobile phone localization/e911?