Across the country, emergency response teams are gearing up for a busy summer. Despite our notoriously unpredictable weather, 9 in 10 Brits are looking to enjoy the great outdoors, and nearly half are planning to explore new locations around the UK. For ‘Know Exactly Where’ week which kicks off today, emergency services are raising awareness of the free what3words app as a simple way for the public to be prepared, helping them to save time and resources in emergency situations.
What3words app
Brits are making the most of the UK and all it offers this summer – Wales (21%) and Scotland (18%) top the charts for the most popular areas to explore, and thousands say they will be out walking (52%), heading to the beach (42%) and enjoying road trips (24%) across the country. However, new research reveals that Brits aren’t adequately preparing. A staggering three quarters say they don’t check the traffic or roadworks beforehand, 67% do not research their destination in advance and less than a third (28%) make sure the address they are heading to is accurate.
The research also identified that nearly a quarter of 16-24 year olds will be heading to festivals, but concerningly, only 39% expressed confidence in being able to describe their location to someone and arrange a meet up point.
Additionally, over half of respondents said they would rely on their phone’s GPS to help find their way back if they got lost during outdoor activities, yet around 45% make sure they have enough phone battery before heading out, and only a quarter pack a portable charger. This is cause for concern given 1 in 4 Brits have got lost during an outdoor excursion before.
‘What’s the address of the emergency?’ is one of the first questions asked when calling 999, but describing where help is needed can be difficult and stressful, especially in unaddressed or unfamiliar areas. Emergency call takers cannot accept shared pins, and aren’t always able to automatically detect a caller’s exact location – although 40% of Brits assumed they could. New research also highlighted that many people would struggle to describe meeting points in forests, on country roads, and campgrounds, which could lead to a delay in locating a caller when every minute matters.
what3words provides a solution, and has created a simple way to communicate very precise locations. It has divided the world into a grid of 3 metre squares, and given each square a unique identifier consisting of three words: a what3words address. This means that every viewpoint along a hiking trail, stadium entrance, picnic spot in the park and tent on a campground has its own what3words address. For example, ///rises.lock.eating marks the exact spot along the Botany Bay Beach Walking Trail in Kent, where visitors can cut through onto the beach surrounded by stunning cliffs often visited by tourists.
The app works offline, making it ideal for use in areas with an unreliable data connection, such as popular summer destinations like festivals, beaches, national parks and campsites. what3words is available in over 60 languages to date, including Welsh. It is free to download on iOS and Android, and can be accessed via the online map at what3words.com
what3words is also used by the AA to enable faster incident response, with hundreds of AA members using the technology to communicate the precise location of breakdowns every day.
AA Patrol of the Years Chris Wood, says: “With summer event season in full swing, downloading what3words can provide peace of mind in so many situations – whether you need to find your tent in a campsite, meet up with a friend at a busy festival, or your car breaks down on a road with no markers to describe your surroundings. Drivers can reduce the risk of a summer breakdown by preparing their car before travelling, including making sure you have enough fuel or electric charge, checking tyre conditions and pressure, and packing essentials like water in case there are delays.”
While Advanced Prehospital Practitioner at Devon Air Ambulance Trust - Alex Sanders-Page, said: “Devon is a unique place with many awesome sights to see. However, it is not always possible to know exactly where you are, especially if you’re exploring places off the beaten track, or only visiting the area. what3words is such a useful tool to get help if you have an incident when exploring our amazing County. Using what3words to find casualties has made our job at Devon Air Ambulance so much easier when trying to find where to locate a patient and send help to. It is also of use in built up areas, as sometimes just knowing what side of a building somebody is can help us decide where to land the helicopter to get to them as quickly as possible.”
Enhanced Emergency Medical Dispatcher for Yorkshire Ambulance Service Anisah Mahmood, said: “We use what3words countless times every week to quickly identify the specific location of injured or ill patients, recent examples include someone who had fallen in the Yorkshire Dales and a road traffic accident on a long A-road with no obvious landmarks.
Summer is always a busy time for us with an influx of tourists flocking to our beautiful county and people heading out in their droves to enjoy the warmer weather, often in areas they are unfamiliar with, so being able to locate them quickly in an emergency with what3words is invaluable. I would encourage everyone to download the app. We can send 999 callers the what3words website link to their phone so they can tell us their location, but this is dependent on them having internet access so it’s preferable if they already have the app – you just never know when you might need it.”
Dan Dawkins, Manchester AA Patrol recalled a recent experience using what3words on the roads: “Just last week I passed a medium-sized van which was giving off heavy smoke. I turned my van around and parked it a safe distance away from the smoking van to fend off the scene. Before I could reach the elderly driver to offer guidance, he opened the bonnet and the van went up in flames. I called 999 and used what3words to give an exact location. Fire engines turned up within 15 minutes and were able to put out the flames before they could spread to the nearby field.”
what3words’ innovative location technology is used by 85% of the UK’s emergency services – police, fire and ambulance – to help save time and resources when minutes matter most. Call handlers are trained to gather as much location information as possible to identify where to direct help quickly, including asking for the nearest road name, landmarks, a what3words address, and more. Beyond emergencies, people are also using what3words every day to meet up with friends at parks and beaches, to share the best running and hiking locations, and send meet-up spots to fellow fans at sports matches and large events like concerts and festivals.