A recent what3words failure in the Brecon Beacons.
To be fair, poor signal would also have resulted in an inaccurate location on any other piece of software. W3Ws just makes a small error into a big error!
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Poor mobile signal, or poor GPS signal?
i.e. did it correctly generate a code for the wrong location, or wrongly encode the correct position?
If the former, then whatever solution was used to pass the location to the 999 service the outcome would have been the same. If the latter, then it could be a long way out. I rather suspect the former, though.
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Recommendation to use What3Words for reporting a location:
These included reviewing safety signs, employing more staff at peak times and providing information on What3words, a web app which can be used to pinpoint exact locations for the benefit of emergency services.
Their PR team are doing a great job distracting from the concerns about W3W.
Hopefully everyone is teaching cadets to use lat/long, which is available on all mobile mapping apps.
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Or just a grid reference! With so many free apps, there really is no advantage to W3W
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does the W3W app cost?
It costs the emergency services. That’s how they make their money I belive
Really interesting article and something I hadn’t considered.
Definite flaw with w3w!
… I’ve always preffered good old grid refs though!
Nope. The implication was that when other tried and trusted methods are also free, why are people still using W3W.
Honestly I think squadrons pushing W3W to cadets for expeditions is dangerous. Scenario for you; cadets injure themselves and require help, unsure where they are they pull out W3W that you’ve asked them to download, and tell you they are at TREE.CAKE.BUCKET. What do you actually do with that information? You can’t convert to grid reference so your OS Map is useless. The map in the app is essentially Google Maps, so how do you plan your route to the group if you don’t know where they are, the terrain, the paths etc? You can’t. Therefore it’s useless as a tool for that purpose. Yes you can pass it to Emergency Services who can convert it, but why not just use OS locate?
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Excellent article.
Probably - but more scope to make a mistake? Even GRs can be mixed up / location mis-identified (especIally under stress) & numbers can be misheard/ transposed over the radio / ‘phone.
Don’t forget that W3W Is aimed at the public in general rather than any individual groups / organisations that might have a better skill set.
One location issue, some years ago, emergency services went to the wrong location (Brampton / Wyton) = same postcode - insisted on by the ambulance call handler. A cadet died from a severe asthma attack, although I think that the delayed response time wasn’t seen as a causal factor.
The cost is more for integrating it into existing Command and Control systems than it is to actually use it.
The job wasn’t paying to have it downloaded to everyone’s Job Phone, that was just the free version of the software.
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I share concerns about the pricing model for W3W. They have been clever by pushing marketing such that emergency services have no choice but to adopt it when in actual fact it gives no better service than OS locate. I also agree with the above comments about it’s practical use as staff on an expedition trying to convert it back into an OS ref to then plan a route to the injured cadet for example.
We all survived before W3W but some seem to now think it’s the answer to all emergency situations.
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Just convert the W3W to lat long using Google Maps. Or a GR using Bing maps.
It’s an additional check. One method of location can be wrong, incorrect grid, incorrect postcode, wrong lat/Long.
Anyone relying on any single method of location is asking for trouble, as you have no margin for error, especially when cadet navigation is involved.
If the cadets send you a lat/long, a GR and a w3w, the odds of all three being in different places is remote.
People should stop acting as if any of these methods are a magic bullet, they’re not.
(By the way, W3W does this for you using the app. Just type in the words, then click Navigate, select Google maps and it gives you the location in Google Maps in Lat Long.)
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For auditing purposes most organisations would want it built into the Command & Control, that way it’s auditable, rather then information being processed outside of the system. Moving forward my understanding is that most new systems are having W3W built into the software from the ground up.
Exactly, complaining that words could sound the same is no more or less likely than someone under stress messing up the number on a Grid Reference, do that on an OS Map and you can put yourselves KM’s out of position just as easily.
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if the event leader told the Cadets to download the app then i would guess they were prepared to receive the information in the format it would be sent.
no point suggesting someone sends an email to questions@companyname.org if no one is going to monitor the inbox, likewise no point suggesting W3W information is sent if the group leaders can’t do anything with it.
(on the flip side offering a GPS coordinate to the 999 telephone operator is pretty pointless when all they really need to know is the casualty has collapsed at the end of Church Street in Anytown - ie offer the information that those who can help you are designed to accept)
I can see you point, but i think you’re being a bit narrow minded in how people would you use it.
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seconded. both of them.
it is interesting, fascinating and eye opening to read that such examples exist, the homophone factor is something i hadn’t considered before but seems so simple and isn’t picked up in the written format (which you could argue it would be if received via an emergency text which is arguably easier to send than making an emergency phone call trying to connect long enough to get the full message across) but is still a flaw as somewhere along the chain that written location could be spoken in the communication chain
edit to add: in the comments section one poster did indicate you can offer two W3W locations, the one your in and one in the box next to you. given each box is 3m square it isn’t difficult to relocate to it, and getting both W3W locations mixed up is going to be harder still - even if one is wrong and put the location in the Irish Sea, the other is going to be in the right location.
a 6 figure grid reference is accurate to within 100m, two W3W locations are accurate to within 6m, even three adjacent W3W locations are <10m accuracy
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The fire brigade can be the worst for this, a Road Junction and Town wasn’t enough, they needed a postcode 
That’s ridiculous. A passerby calling it in might not have a clue