What Three Words

[Iliade]

I think W3W just hates me (or perhaps they hate Samsung S10+ and i-phone something or other:

• I have used it in anger once when talking to the ambulance service and it put me hundreds of miles away. (I had a gps fix and google maps was on and accurate) The ambulance lass sent me their own version and it nailed the spot immediately.
• We tested it outside the office and two of us got two different sets of words each, none of which were accurate to less than 500m. Again the GPS fix was good
• I just tried it here and it worked fine.

 

[Mark-1]

• The ambulance lass sent me their own version and it nailed the spot immediately.

Any idea what they used? SARLOC? FindPhone?

SKILLS: Using SARLOC for Rescue on your Smartphone

 

[Caraway]

Yes, thats why we left my previous village. Just one sheep, just one sheep.

No such place. There is this though ///just.once.sheep

 

[Frogmogman]

Unfortunately it would appear that "channel light vessel" is in the Punjab.

That could confuse the CG somewhat.

There isn't a position for scuttle.butt.forum, but scuttle.putt.forum (one for golfing sailors I imagine) and scuttle.mutt.forum (one for sailing dogs) are both in Russia.

 

[mm42]

Great, I thought - an answer to all those lost couriers who can't find us, in our out-of-the way phone dead spot, with our postcode covering about a mile of road.

The first location it gave me was halfway up out neighbour's field full of cows. When I corrected it it still seemed unable to to track me around the house and garden. (I do have location services on) but gives an offset of ten or twelve squares. Better than a postcode but not that impressive. I'm now two houses away in their lake!

That’s down to the accuracy (or otherwise) of your device, rather than W3W. Your lat and long would be similarly offset.

 

[dunedin]

Problem is it's very difficult to plot a Lat/Long position on an OS map. So if you're using maps use NGR, easy.

I think that is an issue with OS Paper maps. They are out of alignment (literally) with the world standards for position datums, and have been for decades (since WGS84). The UKHO has moved on, so should the OS

 

[MystyBlue2]

I am sure that many people are aware of this but just in case anyone is not there is a new location technology starting to be widely used. The What Three Words company has divided the world int 3 metre squares each identified by three words. The technology is being used by the coast guard, emergency services and others.

There is a free app download for phones and tablets using inbuilt gps and not requiring phone signal. Open it and it will give a location. For example my boat is currently moored at “rises.stow.jobs”.

If I needed help I think that this much safer to give that location than 51degrees 27.448 minutes North 3 degrees 10.429 minutes West. Much less margin for error in a force 10 with water up to your knees.

I have heard a Mayday twice in my life, once in a Force 12 Typhoon in the South China Sea on a cargo ship where I was able to note the position accurately but was in no position to help and once in Solent in a sailing boat where I did not have time to get below and note the position and could not retain in memory the lat and long. I could have remembered three words I hope.

What Three Words may be the second major navigation positional advancement since the invention of the chronograph, GPS being the first.

Just talking on a different thread about small boat saftey gear.

Im going to use this app on my fone in a waterproof case around my neck. Coupled with a lifejacket and VHF. Maybe not in the same field as a PLB but better than nothing!

 

[Deleted member 36384]

No such place. There is this though ///just.once.sheep

That may be the case but the point was referring to homes by previous occupants names, trades or the point of what was supposed to be a quip, their predilections.

 

[Bilgediver]

How does this work if at sea and there are no objects to describe the 3m grid you are in?

It forms an imaginary 3 metre grid over the world surface and derives your position from a satellite fix. Move 3 metres and it is a different three words.

 

[MystyBlue2]

It forms an imaginary 3 metre grid over the world surface and derives your position from a satellite fix. Move 3 metres and it is a different three words.

Like an android version of a PLB...if the phone is in a watertight case that is.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Like an android version of a PLB...if the phone is in a watertight case that is.

Umm, it's nothing like a plb.

 

[MystyBlue2]

Umm, it's nothing like a plb.

Well obviously it doesn't send a constant ping to satellites BUT in an emergency...overboard floating on your back you can call CG on your phone...open the app and tell him the 3 words, Every 3 metres it gives you a new set of words. You keep the CG on the phone with up to date words until the lifeboat finds you within a 3x3m radius.

Maybe not a PLB but not far off either in a emergency situation. Better than nothing for being found in a vast empty space at night.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Well obviously it doesn't send a constant ping to satellites BUT in an emergency...overboard floating on your back you can call CG on your phone...open the app and tell him the 3 words, Every 3 metres it gives you a new set of words. You keep the CG on the phone with up to date words until the lifeboat finds you within a 3x3m radius.

Maybe not a PLB but not far off either in a emergency situation. Better than nothing for being found in a vast empty space at night.

On a warm afternoon in the Med, maybe. In any waves you'll have no chance. I don't (currently) carry a plb for the inshore stuff I've been doing, but I do carry a dsc vhf - not auto, but just one button. It not only alerts the coastguard, but all other local users get the alarm and position too. Main drawback is that I'll have to hold it up in the air for a signal, but you'll need to do that with your 'phone too.

You're going to be using a small motorboat so it's less likely, but one of the reasons people fall overboard is having been knocked over, and sometimes unconscious. That's when a plb would be A Good Thing.

 

[Juan Twothree]

As well as sending your location to a satellite, a PLB also transmits a homing signal on 121.5, so the lifeboat* or helicopter can come straight to you, without you having to stay on the phone updating the CG operator with the latest 3 words.

*Note: D class inshore lifeboats don't have this capability.

 

[Iliade]

Any idea what they used? SARLOC? FindPhone?

SKILLS: Using SARLOC for Rescue on your Smartphone

I don't remember and it isn't showing on my message history nor as a loaded app. All of the associated 999 calls do show on the call log. It gave me a three word location that I gave to the call handler verbally.

 

[newtothis]

Well obviously it doesn't send a constant ping to satellites BUT in an emergency...overboard floating on your back you can call CG on your phone...open the app and tell him the 3 words, Every 3 metres it gives you a new set of words. You keep the CG on the phone with up to date words until the lifeboat finds you within a 3x3m radius.

Nonsense. An area of 3m x 3m metres would form a square, not a circle, so would have no radius.

 

[Zagato]

Is W3W the only locater app. If I give my three words to a client to get to my house, do they also need the same app? We may have to loads 100's of apps over time and remember 1000's of three words if we all use different ones.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Is W3W the only locater app. If I give my three words to a client to get to my house, do they also need the same app? We may have to loads 100's of apps over time and remember 1000's of three words if we all use different ones.

Let's try it. My app gives a location of dash.piston.rated where does your app put that?

 

[wombat88]

My son found a mountain biker in the mist with a broken arm and a few other smashed up bits. Misty day, no visibility. W3W used. The paramedics came straight to them, no problem.

 

[tudorsailor]

I think W3W just hates me (or perhaps they hate Samsung S10+ and i-phone something or other:

• I have used it in anger once when talking to the ambulance service and it put me hundreds of miles away. (I had a gps fix and google maps was on and accurate) The ambulance lass sent me their own version and it nailed the spot immediately.
• We tested it outside the office and two of us got two different sets of words each, none of which were accurate to less than 500m. Again the GPS fix was good
• I just tried it here and it worked fine.

Could this have been because you were connected to wifi? Google maps still think I live in my old house miles away as I am using the same router. So in its database, the wifi address is still at the old location. If you turn off wifi does it locate you correctly?
Just a thought and a theory

TS