Hi Robin,

I installed it and it seems to be accessible to some degree, but there are 
buttons that are not described and I'm not sure what they do.  Also when 
choosing your language English United States is there twice and it's not 
clear which one you're supposed to select.  This is not the only language 
that has double choices.  No, I haven't used it, per say, I'll try it if I 
get lost between my man-cave and the bedroom!  LOL  LOL

Take care.  Mike.  Sent from my iBarstool.  Go dodgers!
I believe that everything happens for a reason. Usually, the reason is that 
somebody screwed up.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Robin Frost
To: viphone@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2019 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: What 3words, The app that can save your life


Have you used it? Is it accessible? I’ll have a look now for fun.
Robin

From: Mike B.
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2019 8:18 PM
To: VIPhone
Subject: What 3words, The app that can save your life

Howdy y'all,

I came across this and thought it was worth sharing.  This app is in the App 
Store.


From: Allan

What3words: The app that can save your life

By Duncan Leatherdale
BBC News

Firefighter at fire with what3words grid showing location nameImage 
copyright What3words
Image caption
What3words divides the world into 57 trillion squares, each with a unique 
three-word address

Police have urged everyone to download a smartphone app they say has already 
saved several lives. What is it and how does it work?

Kicked. Converged. Soccer.

These three randomly chosen words saved Jess Tinsley and her friends after 
they got lost in a forest on a dark, wet night.

They had planned a five-mile circular stroll through the 4,900 acre (2,000 
hectare) woodland Hamsterley Forest, in County Durham, on Sunday evening, 
but after three hours they were hopelessly lost.

"We were in a field and had no idea where we were," the 24-year-old care 
worker from Newton Aycliffe said.

"It was absolutely horrendous. I was joking about it and trying to laugh 
because I knew if I didn't laugh I would cry."

Picture of Jess Tinsley and her Jess and her friend in forestImage copyright 
Jess Tinsley
Image caption
Jess Tinsley dialled 999 after getting lost - and was told to download an 
app to her smartphone

At 22:30 BST they found a spot with phone signal and dialled 999.

"One of the first things the call-handler told us to do was download the 
what3words app," Ms Tinsley said.

"I had never heard of it."

Within a minute of its download, the police said they knew where the group 
was and the soaked and freezing walkers were swiftly found by the Teesdale 
and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team.

Hamsterley Forest
Image caption
Hamsterley Forest covers a large area of County Durham

"I have told everyone I know to download this app," Ms Tinsley said.

"You never know when you are going to get lost and need it."

What3words essentially points to a very specific location.

Its developers divided the world into 57 trillion squares, each measuring 3m 
by 3m (10ft by 10ft) and each having a unique, randomly assigned three-word 
address.

For example, the door of 10 Downing Street is slurs.this.shark, while the 
area across the road where the press congregate is stage.pushy.nuns.

It was born out of company founder Chris Sheldrick's postal-related problems 
growing up in rural Hertfordshire.

"Our postcode did not point to our house," he said.

"We got used to getting post meant for other people, or having to stand in 
the road to flag down delivery drivers."

Chris SheldrickImage copyright What3words
Image caption
Chris Sheldrick founded what3words in 2013

Ten years in the music industry, which involved trying to get bands to meet 
at specific entrances to their venues, also fuelled his frustration.

"I tried to get people to use longitude and latitude but that never caught 
on," Mr Sheldrick said.

"It got me thinking, how can you compress 16 digits into something much more 
user friendly?

"I was speaking to a mathematician and we found there were enough 
combinations of three words for every location in the world."

In fact, 40,000 words was enough.

The company started in 2013 and now employs more than 100 people at its base 
in Royal Oak, west London.

Mongolia has adopted what3words for its postal service, while Lonely 
Planet's guide for the country gives three word addresses for its points of 
interest.

Mongolia's capital city UlaanbaatarImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption
Mongolia has adopted what3words for its postal system

Mercedes Benz has also included its system in its cars and what3words is now 
being used in 35 languages.

But still, not enough people know about it according to Lee Wilkes, a crew 
manager for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, one of 35 English and Welsh 
emergency services to have signed up to the system.

"It cuts out all ambiguity about where we need to be," he said.

Tackling fires in large rural expanses, for example on moors, will be helped 
by the system, Mr Wilkes said.

Close up of Lonely Planet entryImage copyright Lonely Planet
Image caption
Lonely Planet uses what3words addresses for Mongolian points of interest

"Instead of saying 'meet at the gate and then get directed from there,' we 
can be absolutely specific about where our crew needs to get to," Mr Wilkes 
said.

"It will make for a much more effective service. We are quite excited about 
it.

"It would be flippant of me to say this will become commonplace but I really 
do think it could be.

"I just cannot see a downside."

The green Great Langdale Valley, Lake DistrictImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption
People who find themselves needing help in remote areas can use the app to 
direct emergency services to them, police say

If people do not have the app, the emergency services can send a text 
message containing a web link to their phones.

But that requires a signal (85% of the country is said to have a 4G 
connection). The app does not need a phone signal to tell someone their 
three-word location, however.

"Say there was a group up a mountain and one got injured," Mr Sheldrick 
said.

"They haven't got any signal to call for help, but they can still find out 
their three word location.

"Someone from the group can then take that down and tell the emergency 
services, who then know exactly where to go to find the injured person."

The emergency services are urging people to download the free app.
◾The killer who believed he would 'get away with it'
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◾Are road signs telling the whole truth?

South Yorkshire Police used it to find a 65-year-old man who became trapped 
after falling down a railway embankment in Sheffield.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service found a woman who had crashed her 
car but was unsure where she was.

And Humberside Police were able to quickly resolve a hostage situation after 
the victim was able to tell officers exactly where she was being held.

"That was a time critical situation and being able to use a three word 
address meant officers could get there much quicker, rescue the hostage and 
arrest a man," Mr Sheldrick said.

"That made us understand how the work we are doing is so important."

Grid on field where farmer injuredImage copyright What3words
Image caption
The app enables the emergency services to know exactly where they are trying 
to get to

Humberside Police also used the system to find a group of foreign nationals, 
including a pregnant woman in labour, who were trapped inside a shipping 
container at a port.

"The port had over 20,000 containers and we knew that we needed to get to 
them quickly," said the force's control room supervisor Paul Redshaw.

The group were told to download the app and they were soon found.

"There is no doubt in my mind that these incidents could have had very 
different outcomes had we not been able to use what3words," Mr Redshaw said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

Big Al!

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