EMERGENCY services across the country are pledging their support for the ground-breaking technology which has been credited with saving thousands of lives across the UK.
#KnowExactlyWhere, which launched this week, calls for the public to download the free location app – so they’re ready to give a what3words address in the event of an emergency.
what3words has divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares. It has given each square a unique combination of three words – a what3words address. ///tortoises.swarm.announce, for example, will take you to a precise location on Ben Nevis where in February 2020 a group of hikers were rescued.
The co-founded in London in 2013 by Chris Sheldrick, the app is free to download for both iOS and Android and works offline – making it ideal for use in areas of the UK with an unreliable data connection.
what3words can also be used via the online map at what3words.com. The technology is available in more than 40 languages, including Welsh, and can be used anywhere in the world.
After successfully piloting with a selection of forces in 2019, what3words is now used by over 80 per cent of UK emergency services.
‘Where’s the emergency?’ is one of the first questions asked when calling 999.
But saying exactly where help is needed can be challenging. Emergencies can happen anywhere, from a remote beach in Scotland, to the side of the M1, to the middle of Hyde Park.
Trevor Baldwin, Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Head of EOC Service Development, is one of the 97 UK services which use the technology for free and said many 999 callers had already used the technology to help identify their location.
He said: “Having this type of technology integrated within our Emergency Operations Centre system has changed the way we are able to deal with incidents where the location isn’t known.
“Asking people questions about their location when they have little knowledge of an area takes time and responses aren’t always that accurate.
“Asking for a what3words address or sending an SMS so they can easily provide their three-word address, means that we can save valuable time locating incidents.
“We have used it every day since it was introduced in August 2019.”
Around the world, what3words is used in 124 control rooms in the UK, Canada, the USA, Australia, South Africa and Germany.
And as well using the app for emergencies, people are using what3words every day to meet up with friends at parks and on beaches, to share great running and hiking locations, and share match locations with their sports teams.
