OT - What3words: The app that can save your life

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

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

Yes. What is it and how does it work?

--
Reading any post by Fred Hodgin, you're always faced with the choice of:
lunatic, moron, or troll.

I always try to be generous and give benefit of the doubt, by assuming troll.

In article , Kenny McCormack
wrote:


Yes. What is it and how does it work?

https://what3words.com/about-us/
We have assigned each 3m square in the world a unique 3 word
address that will never change.

For example ///filled.count.soap marks the exact entrance to
what3words London headquarters.

3 word addresses are easy to say and share, and are as accurate
as GPS coordinates.

On 15/11/2019 15:47, Kenny McCormack wrote:
In article , David wrote:
Police have urged everyone to download a smartphone app they say has
already saved several lives. What is it and how does it work?

Yes. What is it and how does it work?


It ascertains your location, gives it the 3words code, offers various
options to 'send' the code, the sent code (ie,email) gives a URL that
will then show the 'codes' location.

https://what3words.com/

On 15/11/2019 16:09, Patrick wrote:
On 15/11/2019 15:47, Kenny McCormack wrote:
In article , DavidÂ*
wrote:
Police have urged everyone to download a smartphone app they say has
already saved several lives. What is it and how does it work?

Yes. What is it and how does it work?


It ascertains your location, gives it the 3words code, offers various
options to 'send' the code, the sent code (ie,email) gives a URL that
will then show the 'codes' location.

https://what3words.com/

That is correct, Patrick :-)

What is what3words?

Let me quote:-

"what3words is a really simple way to talk about location.

We have assigned each 3m square in the world a unique 3 word address
that will never change.

For example ///filled.count.soap marks the exact entrance to what3words’
London headquarters.

3 word addresses are easy to say and share, and are as accurate as GPS
coordinates.
51.520847, -0.19552100 �→ /// filled.count.soap

Our vision is to become a global standard for communicating location.

People use what3words to find their tents at festivals, navigate to
B&Bs, and to direct emergency services to the right place."


See: https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app/

Anti-shill x-post

However, it is not necessary to turn your location into human
recognizable words; the phone device can be used to 'simply' send the
coordinates.

(And) The what3words proprietary strategy has been criticized by those
supporters of open standards*.

https://techwiser.com/send-location-someone/ 7 Ways to Send your
Location (GPS coordinates) to Someone

The 3 words business has to be done in multiple different languages.
The strategy of sending the numerical coordinates is more universal and
can be done by SMS so that even dumb or legacy phones can do it.


* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What3words#Criticism The company has
pursued an assertive policy of issuing copyright claims against
individuals and organisations that have hosted or published details of
the what3words algorithm or reverse-engineered code that replicates the
service's functionality, such as WhatFreeWords.[31] This has extended to
removing comments on social media which refer to unauthorised versions.[32]


--
Mike Easter

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

And in later BBC news there's some criticism...

What3words: 'Life-saving app' divides opinion
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49754820

Apd wrote:

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

And in later BBC news there's some criticism...

What3words: 'Life-saving app' divides opinion
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49754820

I think it's a great app.

My first proper experience of it was at a German parkrun - the start was
somewhere in the middle of a big park - What3words took us straight to
the start line - yes, it could have been done with co-ords, but we just
typed in 3 easy words from a website without worrying about getting
digits wrong.
--
Steve H

Steve H wrote:

I think it's a great app.

Just make sure you don't confuse for example parents.appeal.form with
parent.appeal.forms, one's in London, the other near Sacramento.

On 17/11/2019 11:36, Andy Burns wrote:
Steve H wrote:

I think it's a great app.

Just make sure you don't confuse for example parents.appeal.form with
parent.appeal.forms, one's in London, the other near Sacramento.

A great example! Point taken. :-D

David wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

Just make sure you don't confuse for example parents.appeal.form with
parent.appeal.forms, one's in London, the other near Sacramento.

A great example!

Obviously far enough apart that the mistake should be obvious to the
emergency services, can anyone come up with an example that is close
enough not to be obvious, but far enough apart that someone could be at
risk of help not arriving?

On Sun, 17 Nov 2019 11:46:23 +0000, David wrote:

On 17/11/2019 11:36, Andy Burns wrote:
Steve H wrote:

I think it's a great app.

Just make sure you don't confuse for example parents.appeal.form with
parent.appeal.forms, one's in London, the other near Sacramento.

A great example! Point taken.

You started the phishing/spam thread. IN YOUR OWN WORDS,
explain how the scam works. AFTER you've read about it.

---------------
BD: I want people to "get to know me better. I have nothing to
hide".
I'm always here to help, this page was put up at BD's request,
rather, he said "Do it *NOW*!":

http://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php

60 confirmed #FAKE_NYMS, most used in cybercrimes!
Google "David Brooks Devon"
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

In article , Andy Burns
wrote:

Just make sure you don't confuse for example parents.appeal.form with
parent.appeal.forms, one's in London, the other near Sacramento.

that's very surprising, since the creator of what3words stated that
they carefully chose the words so that situations like that could not
happen.

nospam wrote:

the creator of what3words stated that
they carefully chose the words so that situations like that could not
happen.

Speak slowly and clearly when the axe-murderer corners you.

https://what3words.com/think.credits.apply
https://what3words.com/think.credit.supply

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Fri, 15 Nov 2019 17:14:54 -0000, "Apd"
wrote:

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

And in later BBC news there's some criticism...

What3words: 'Life-saving app' divides opinion
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49754820

So if I'm traveling and I use it and the police there don't have the app
installed, can I make up my own 3 words? ///Need.help.now

Or if there are several of us lost in the woods, ///help.me.first .

And of course, the police have their own address, ///dont.bother.me .