3LW - problems?

[PaulB2]

Yeah, the tectonic plate Australia sits on is slowly moving north a couple of inches a year. The other end of the plate is the Himalayas which are slowly growing.

[ScotRoutes]

As an ex-Royal Mail employee

I read that as ex-Royal Marine ... dunno why but it surprised me

Ha. So did I

I guess the military using the wrong address could have dire consequences.

[jameso]

This was the twitter post I saw,
https://twitter.com/cybergibbons/status ... 5490219009

'sheet' vs 'sheets' , 2 sides of a valley in Scotland.



https://twitter.com/cybergibbons/status ... 5108250626 - one thread showing some of the W3W locations that are close in proximity and phonetic/spelling.
eg

A chunk of the Highlands.

There are a lot of 2km-5km pairs here. These are in the dangerous range for confusion in mountain rescue IMHO.

Interesting that nearly all of the blue pairs and yellow pairs have the same angle/distance.

[voodoo_simon]

There was a rumour years ago about texting a number at home and then this would enable the emergency services to trace your phone in the future if needs be. Any truth in this?

No, but you can set your phone up so that you can text emergency services: https://www.emergencysms.net/registerin ... _phone.php

Even if you have no signal it'll piggyback on any available network.

Cheers, just set this up Here’s hoping I don’t need it

[voodoo_simon]

As an ex-Royal Mail employee

I read that as ex-Royal Marine ... dunno why but it surprised me

Probably because Dave swears like a trooper...

[Dave Barter]

As an ex-Royal Mail employee

I read that as ex-Royal Marine ... dunno why but it surprised me

I've become buff in lockdown

[GregMay]

[Bearlegged]

Seems this has now hit the big time:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56901363

A thread on Twitter discussing it has also seized on its use by Hermes, which has led to one wag noting:

W3W from Hermes:
dropkick.over.fence

[Zippy]

Here's the thread when we were talking about it 4 years ago...not much has changed other than it annoys me more and Greg 's opinion has evolved with further exposure to it.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10684&p=178022

[Specialist Hoprocker]

Interestingly I had to call an ambulance yesterday. Speaking to the operator I immediately said 'I have the What3Words ref.', she said no thanks and asked me the what road I was in, which I then looked at the map on teh What3Words app to give her.

I was in central London though, so maybe things are a bit different.

[Alpinum]

Here's the thread when we were talking about it 4 years ago...not much has changed other than it annoys me more and Greg 's opinion has evolved with further exposure to it.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10684&p=178022

On a more positive side:

I like the system a lot and offers opportunities to find the rudest/ most humorous bivvy locations

[GregMay]

I can see the Daily Mail headline:

"Man changes opinion! And he's not even BRITISH!"

And so forth.

Unsurprised dispatch officer asked for street/postcode. It's how the system works.

[lune ranger]

I can see the Daily Mail headline:

"Man changes opinion! And he's not even BRITISH!"

Probably partially responsible for the death of Princess Diana as well....

[whitestone]

Stu, I believe W3W/3LW started out as a means of locating premises/places in countries that don't have a post code type system.

Greg - is Phonefind the new name for SARLoc? The one time I've had to call MR (well Police and ask for MR) was on the first JennRide - a woman had sprained her ankle, I was sent a SARLoc text, clicked on it, my GR was automatically returned to them. Only needs a signal and sufficient battery to connect, no app to install.

Unfortunately for the few people, like my brother, who don't have a smartphone neither system will work.

[GregMay]

Yep same thing.

Limitation for certain with those without smart phones. Triangulation based of telecoms towers is used in some cases, but it's a very poor substitute. Usually, we just ring the person :)

[Cheeky Monkey]

Stu, I believe W3W/3LW started out as a means of locating premises/places in countries that don't have a post code type system.

Greg - is Phonefind the new name for SARLoc? The one time I've had to call MR (well Police and ask for MR) was on the first JennRide - a woman had sprained her ankle, I was sent a SARLoc text, clicked on it, my GR was automatically returned to them. Only needs a signal and sufficient battery to connect, no app to install.

Unfortunately for the few people, like my brother, who don't have a smartphone neither system will work.

If you believe the marketing (I was bombarded by video ads for a while) it was developed by a bloke who managed bands and needed them / their crews to go to the right doors / venues

[Dave Barter]

https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/30/what3 ... freewords/

They are tossers

[ScotRoutes]

Swaledale MRT just posted on Facebook suggesting folk stick to an OS Grid Ref as the W3W they'd been given was 50 miles out.

[Rapideye]

I had my first night out the other night. Was only a couple of miles from the house, so not far. Was to give the Wife the W3W reference and that had me about a mile east than I actually was.

[mikejd]

Just seen this link to an interesting blog and discussion around the problems with W3W.

[https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-b ... hree-words

[Lazarus]

Just seen this link to an interesting blog and discussion around the problems with W3W.

the link does not work

[Boab]

Just seen this link to an interesting blog and discussion around the problems with W3W.

the link does not work

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bo ... hree-words

[Lazarus]

Thanks

[ScotRoutes]

Just seen this link to an interesting blog and discussion around the problems with W3W.

the link does not work

Intentional irony?

[Lazarus]

unfortunately:not:true