W3W issues

Heard this briefly the other day.

Some bod from the emergency services commented that they didn't think it would be a serious problem for them? :unsure:

The app is perfectly good enough for non-emergency use, I would think?
 
Even when used to using lat and long there are three methods of using it, anyone here dropped a clanger when entering it on a sat nav? I once called the emergency services for a road traffic accident and gave the operator a lat and long. The operator had no idea how to place it and insisted on a verbal description of the location. It was somewhere along a major road with little to identify it. It was then that the operator told me she was two counties away and put me through to an operator who was closer where we talked our way to a location using her local knowledge. It all took some time. WTW may have a few shortcomings but it is simple and offer a lot less risk than some other ways of identifying a location. Lat and Long is ideal when everyone knows and is familiar with the system, an area where I spent some time in a previous life.
 
It’s been working well for me. Folk can now find my house, the post town relates to a place twenty miles from me and I have an Orkney postcode on the mainland! Highland addresses and postcodes are very misleading, for example Fort William is a Perth postcode etc.
For work it’s invaluable too, being able to find locations deep in the forestry or in the hills. Moreover, as a system it does not prove difficult for inexperienced users.

Speaking with a colleague about the system, she suggested that it was perhaps a dumbing down of more traditional references, though concluded it is much easier for anyone to use.
 
Just an alternative layer.
Trad latitude/longitude or OS grid references inpractice identify a location area.
W3W does the same but labels it differently.
For many the W3W word based system is easier but not for those with dyslexia or similar.
I prefer numbers anyway and spoken carefully there is less chance of errors.
 
jagmanx said:
Just an alternative layer.
Trad latitude/longitude or OS grid references inpractice identify a location area.
W3W does the same but labels it differently.
For many the W3W word based system is easier but not for those with dyslexia or similar.
I prefer numbers anyway and spoken carefully there is less chance of errors.
Click to expand...

I think both have a place?

Me, I'm belt and braces. Probably use W3W and double check using long/lat ! :ROFLMAO: :cool:
 
Hmmm.... in the forestry and on the moors I think being able to pin point an area of nine square metres offers a level of accuracy difficult to obtain by more traditional methods.
This system was never designed to compete with traditional mapping, moreover it’s a system that makes itself easily accessible to anyone whatever their knowledge may be. I like this system, it works very well and doesn’t compete with traditional mapping. One of my guilty pleasures in an OS map.....
 
Just to say the accuracy of trad methods depends on the no of decimal places used and so could be more precise !
Such apparent accuracy is dependent on satellite positions at the time and the gps receiver on your phone.
My gps w3w triple varies as I monitor it Not a problem of couse.
Glad to read it works for you !
 
By the telephone I have a sheet of paper with W3W for the front door and underneath the words are spelled out using the NATO phonetic alphabet.
All in very large letters.
On the reverse are details of the back door in the same form.

There are a number of similar sounding street names in the area and deliveries / taxis have been known to get it wrong!
I don't want the same to happen with emergency services.
 
I have hardly ever used lat/long, all sat nabs I have had got me where I needed using post codes. Personally I think the W3W app is a great bit of coding making it simple to share a location with someone else. The hardest thing you have to do is install the app.
Horses for courses though and use whichever suits you best👍
 
jagmanx said:
Just an alternative layer.
Trad latitude/longitude or OS grid references inpractice identify a location area.
W3W does the same but labels it differently.
For many the W3W word based system is easier but not for those with dyslexia or similar.
I prefer numbers anyway and spoken carefully there is less chance of errors.
Click to expand...
Was that four candles, or fork handles ......... :unsure: :) :)
 
Rang for an ambulance in UK last year and they used the GPS of the phone we were calling from and couldn't find how to get into the holiday park, a 68 acre site, adding a good ten/ twenty minutes to arrival. We now have identified the W3W as a backup for all owners. Nobody asked for the co-ordinates when the call was made and actually in an emergency situation the person calling would have been too shaky to give them accurately imho. The services were given clear directions on how to find the entrance but ignored this in favour of GPS. Definitely very useful in our situation, although the coordinates of the entrance is also on the emergency card everyone has been given in the park.
 
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