• Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )

Handy App to use

Murt

Letch
Been using a new App. ( Android and iOS) recently, and I think it could be very useful for bike meets, safety and generally being annoying.
What3Words

https://what3words.com/products/how-to-use-the-what3words-app/

Basically, the world is set out in ten ft squares. Each has a three word code.
So, instead of having a postcode, you get, for instance dog.babana.moon
When you put that code into the app, it gives you a very precise location.

I have used it a couple of times recently. After a concert, we left the area to avoid crowds and ended up down a side street. I did the w3w thing and sent the location to my son who was picking us up. He was directed precisely to our location on Google maps.
Another was trying to explain to a friend where a path was to a monument.
I eventually got him to download the app, sent him the w3w words, and he went straight to it.

I was put onto into this by an ex colleague who has been involved in using it to locate a bad accident on a country road miles from anywhere. The farmer who Rang the incident in was using the app, explained the use, and officers and the ambo were able to get right to the location in minutes.

The three words was found to be better to remember that a string of numbers, and also easier to hear in bad Comms.

It's free. Very stable, and I think it could save lives in the biking community ( and make meets a lot easier sometimes)

Just think. You are middle of nowhere, road you haven't been on before and you come accross something horrible. You look up the w3w location, dial 999 and give them the location to within ten feet. ( I'm aware lots of ambulance and police are setting this up in control rooms now)
I'm not connected with the app company but really think this should be passed about!
Murt
 

Murt

Letch
Is it data hungry ? @Murt
It's not too bad at all.
What I have done when using it is use my satnav/ Google maps to get to the general location, then use the location in the app.
Then you are only using it for a short time only.
Haven't noticed a large change in date usage since I've been playing.
I was told earlier that the main sat nag makers are going to be adding it to their units search options soon ( Tom Tom and Garmin )
Murt.
 

Lee337

Confused Poster
Club Sponsor
Typical, can't get it for my phone.

Really must ditch my Windows phone...
 

Murt

Letch
Typical, can't get it for my phone.

Really must ditch my Windows phone...
Yes, it's iOS or Android. I do think the windows phone is dead in the water now.
Is it available for desktop ( thus on a Windows phone then?)
Murt.
 

Lee337

Confused Poster
Club Sponsor
Yes, it's iOS or Android. I do think the windows phone is dead in the water now.
Is it available for desktop ( thus on a Windows phone then?)
Murt.

Not sure if it's available on desktops, not looked but now have android phone so I can give it a go
 

andyBeaker

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Club Sponsor
Big advertising campaign on this at the moment so I thought I would take a look. Clever stuff.

I can think of a number of times where a postcode has been useless in terms of arriving where I needed to go, this would have been perfect. Our friends in Wales are very hard to find, woukd have been ideal for that, could have been sent to an allocated space on their driveway!

Just need to figure out if it can be linked to the satnav in the car. Somehow I doubt it.

Only thing I would say it to switch off all the tracking stuff when registering……
 

Nige F

.
Club Sponsor
Use this all the time now at work as have my kids..... Emergency and breakdown services are slowly coming on board with it too... Go to be one of the best things invented for safety etc.
 

Malone

Been there, and had one
Club Sponsor
I’ve got it on several platforms and it works really well. Why it has to be so accurate I don’t know as it doesn’t really need to be. When you are abroad each country has their own language variant. I didn’t think to see what is used in a multi-lingual country eg Switzerland while I was there.
 

Malone

Been there, and had one
Club Sponsor
Overnight I had a rethink about what I wrote above.

when abroad it will give the relevant 3 words in English regardless of the country you are in. Those 3 words do NOT translate into the equivalent language.

I recall creating a ‘foreign’ identity and then when I used it, the location was then in that language. The local emergency services will then not understand where you are if you tell them in English, unless they have a mechanism to change languages

I hope that explains it a bit better.
 
Top