www.cnet.com Open in urlscan Pro
2a04:4e42:3::666  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET /search/

<form class="smartSearch_form" method="get" action="/search/"
  data-auto-suggest-options="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;\/smartsearch\/xhr\/&quot;,&quot;selectorMenu&quot;:&quot;.searchResults&quot;,&quot;selectorSuggestions&quot;:&quot;.searchResults_imgResults a, .searchResults_linkResults a&quot;,&quot;clickable&quot;:true}"
  data-component="[&quot;formTrim&quot;,&quot;autoSuggest&quot;]" section="brand_nav|top" data-searchtracking="null">
  <input data-search-input="null" class="smartSearch_formInput" type="search" placeholder="Search" name="query" value="" autocomplete="off"><button class="smartSearch_button" type="submit">
    <div class="button button_type_secondary button_size_large "><span data-item="buttonText">Go</span></div>
  </button>
</form>

Text Content

Apple event 2021 rumors Shang-Chi opening weekend earnings Hurricane Ida help
PlayStation Showcase 2021: How to Watch Labor Day sales


TECH

Editions
Editions
English France Germany Japan Korea
Search
Go
Hi,
Settings
My Profile Sign Out
Join / Sign In

Featured Mobile Computing Home Entertainment Services & Software


THIS DIGITAL LOCATION TECH COULD HELP EMERGENCY CREWS FIND YOU IN THE WILDERNESS

Exclusive: Several emergency services in the US and Canada are embracing the
What3words service. One tap on a text message lets you tell them exactly where
you are.

Stephen Shankland

July 6, 2020 9:01 p.m. PT
 * * 
   * 
   * 
   * 
 * 

Several emergency responders in Canada are using What3words digital location to
help people pinpoint their whereabouts when lost or injured. The company's app
or website tells you a three-word label for every 10-foot square on the planet.

What3words

Broke your ankle somewhere in Manitoba's vast wilderness? Crashed your car on
the highway somewhere outside Toronto? With location technology startup
What3words, Canadians now have a new way to tell emergency responders exactly
where they are -- even if they don't know themselves. And some emergency
services in Los Angeles and Arizona have embraced the technology, too.

What3words divides the surface of the entire Earth into 57 trillion squares,
each about 10 feet (3 meters) on edge. It then assigns a unique three-word label
to each patch so hikers can find a trailhead, mail carriers can deliver the mail
and tourists can find their vacation home. For example, Arizona's Horseshoe Bend
overlook of the Colorado River is at narrate.optical.carry.

GET THE CNET NOW NEWSLETTER

Spice up your small talk with the latest tech news, products and reviews.
Delivered on weekdays.


London-based What3words offers its service free to emergency services, and it's
persuaded more than three quarters of UK emergency services to use it. Now it's
got a foothold in North American customers, What3words plans to announce
Tuesday. That means a lot more people could be hearing about it, whether from a
local fire department urging them to install the app or through a text message
during a 911 emergency call.

What3words' approach is emblematic of just how profoundly smartphones can change
our lives. Latitude-longitude coordinates have been around for centuries, but
they're difficult to use, even with GPS satellites whizzing by overhead to
pinpoint location. What3words' approach boils down that position into something
you can easily share in a phone call or text message, without so much fear that
messing up a digit will describe a completely different spot.

"The location of callers is the most vital thing to get, but in a lot of
situations it's the most difficult thing to acquire," said Robert Stewart, a
leader of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and director
of emergency communications in Brandon, Manitoba. His emergency dispatch
operation covers most of the enormous area of the Canadian province and the half
million people who live outside its biggest city, Winnipeg.


EARTH ONLINE

 * How What3words pinpoints every spot on Earth for better navigation
 * 5 useful Google Maps tricks you didn't know until today
 * Google just updated Google Maps. How to use its new commute tools
 * Airbnb uses What3words locations so you'll find your host in a Mongolian
   forest

Other Canadian responders using the technology include the Winnipeg Police
Service, North Vancouver Royal Canadian Mountain Police in British Columbia, the
Halifax Regional Police in Ontario, Wood Buffalo in Alberta and the Bathurst
Police Force in New Brunswick. In the US, the Los Angeles Fire Department is
testing it, and the Pima County Fire Department in Arizona has decided to
install it after its test.


FINDING LOCATION FASTER

People don't always know where they are when they need to make an emergency
call. Street addresses only cover some areas. It can be hard for dispatchers to
instruct people on how to get their phones to report their latitude and
longitude. And triangulation technology based on cell phone tower communications
can be off by miles.

People often resort to local knowledge -- "I'm at Jim's house, across from the
blue truck" -- which is of little use to distant dispatchers, Stewart said.

"When we're talking about finding the location of people who've had a cardiac
event or respiratory event, somebody who's fallen and has a broken leg or is
bleeding out, seconds make a huge difference," added Derrick Clark, fire chief
in the city of Oshawa to the east of Toronto.

His crews have at times hunted for 20 or 30 minutes around a park to try to find
a caller. What3words reduces the search time to mere seconds, he said. He also
experts the service to be useful for emergency callers on highways.

The technology has limits. If there's no network connection, you won't be able
to reach emergency services by phone -- at least until SpaceX Starlink
satellites or something like them reaches wilderness areas where carriers don't
build cellular network towers.


TAP A TEXT MESSAGE TO FIND YOUR LOCATION

Integrating What3words with emergency response software means dispatchers can
send a text message with a What3word hyperlink to a caller. Tapping the link
opens a website that shows the three-word location they can read to the
dispatcher.

"It's so easy to use and so simple," Clark said. It's free for consumers to use.

What3words divides the world into 57 trillion 10x10-feet squares of land. It
works in several languages, including French and English.

What3words; animation by Stephen Shankland/CNET

You can also download the app ahead of time, which means the phone app can get
your location even with a poor data connection. Emergency responders will
encourage people to install it, though it isn't necessary.

What3words was easy to integrate with Oshawa's dispatch system, taking about
four weeks from the decision to go ahead, said Sandra Mackey, the communications
officer overseeing the change.

What3words still has to convince emergency services the technology is worth
relying on, though. It's not an open standard like latitude and longitude. But
for emergency services that integrate the service, it works locally so it's no
problem if it can't reach What3words' servers.


GOOGLE COMPETITION

What3words isn't alone in its ambition to improve location-sharing technology.
And its biggest challenger happens to be the company operating the enormously
powerful Google Maps service. 

Google has built its alternative, Plus Codes, directly into its Google Maps app
on Android and iOS. Plus Codes combines six alphanumeric characters with a city
name, or just uses 10 alphanumeric characters. CNET headquarters, for example,
can be written as QJP3+J6 San Francisco, or as 849VQJP3+J6.

What3words Chief Executive Chris Sheldrick, unsurprisingly, doesn't like it. "I
find it confusing to understand purely as a consumer," he said. "It's
complicated to use and remember."

Google is happy with its approach, which unlike What3words uses an open-source
algorithm anyone can build into their software or service. "Open addressing
standards will be critical in helping the billions of people worldwide who
either don't have an address, or have one that is difficult to locate,"
spokesman Ben Jose said. "As a free, open-sourced addressing system, anyone can
immediately use Plus Codes for any purpose, no matter what language they speak."


PANDEMIC DELIVERY HELP

What3words makes money by charging companies that make heavy use of its
interface. That includes Daimler -- navigation systems on newer Mercedes-Benz
cars understand What3words locations -- and some ride-hailing companies,
Sheldrick said.

Adoption by emergency responders could increase general consumer use of
What3words. That's what happened in the UK, where people now use the service for
things like delivery, ride hailing and drone flights. Small businesses found it
useful when they suddenly needed to do deliveries as the  coronavirus pandemic
kept customers out of shops and restaurants. What3words usage for e-commerce
increased 833% with the onset of shelter in place advice.

"We're learning what the ideal What3words ecosystem looks like," Sheldrick said.
"For us, that's about large-scale consumer awareness."

Correction, July 7, 5:02 p.m. PT: The original version of this story misstated
how Google integrated Plus Codes into its Google Maps apps. The technology is
available on iOS and Android.

Now playing: Watch this: This startup gives an easy-to-remember name to each
spot...
1:21

Comments
Notification on
Notification off
Online

Close
Discuss: This digital location tech could help emergency crews find you in the
wilderness
Sign in to comment

Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate
our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at
any time at our discretion.





MORE FROM CNET
Stimulus check updates
Upgrade to Windows 10 for free right now
Best VPN service of 2021
The best Wi-Fi routers for 2021
Windows 10 tips and tricks
About
About CNET
Newsletter
Sitemap
Careers
Help Center
Licensing
Policies
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Cookie Settings
Do Not Sell My Information
Follow

© 2021 CNET, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Cookie Settings


PRIVACY SETTINGS

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your
browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you,
your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you
expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can
give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to
privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the
different category headings to find out more and change our default settings.
However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site
and the services we are able to offer. More information
Allow All


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms.    You can set your browser to
block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then
work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Cookies Details‎

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.    All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.

Cookies Details‎

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages.    If you do not allow these cookies then
some or all of these services may not function properly.

Cookies Details‎

TARGETING COOKIES

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites.    They do not store directly personal
information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet
device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted
advertising.

Cookies Details‎


BACK BUTTON BACK

Vendor Search Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label


 * 33ACROSS
   
   HOST DESCRIPTION
   
   VIEW COOKIES
   
   
    * Name
      cookie name


 * 33ACROSS
   
   View Privacy Notice
   
   

Confirm My Choices


We use cookies and similar technologies to understand how you use our services,
improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. By
clicking "Accept", you accept all cookies. To manage your cookies and learn more
about our use of cookies click “Cookie Settings”.Learn more.

Cookie Settings Accept