What3Words

@shiney I have never used it, but am aware of it. I remember when it was launched and trying it out with a few colleagues and having a bit of a laugh about some of the combinations. Also tried thinking of three words and seeing where they where.
However I have never been asked by anybody or anything to enter my location using it, it's still postcode and house number.
Maybe if I was still able to go for long walks on Dartmoor or fell running I would have an app on my phone in case of need. I believe that some emergency services use it and can see the use on a large estate or farm.

 

I've used it when i have reported things to the police as with postcodes cover wide area with what 3 words it to the point, but the police don't come out anyway so useless

 

Heard about it when it was launched but never used it.

 

I use it. It's excellent. I use it when I'm out walking or on my mountain bike if I chance upon a spot I want to be able to find again.

Thankfully I've never needed it for its other purpose, but many of the emergency services now use it so if there's an emergency in the middle of nowhere, you can give them your what3words and they'll find you.

 

I downloaded the app but have never used it.

 

I have the app but have never needed to use it. My wife said, "This is useless. It has about three different combinations for our house". I pointed out to her that it depends on where in the house she is at the time.
I think the satnav on some of the newer cars uses it (Mercedes does) as does Google Maps and various stand-alone sat navs.

 

I've got it and have used it a couple of times to track down addresses in the middle of the French countryside. It was suggested that I dish out my 3 words when I open the garden for the annual plant swap but most people find us by using Google maps. My neighbour has a business marker on there, so we just tell first-time visitors or delivery people to use that. They can't get lost once they've found that OTOH, we've never had so much post and so many parcels go astray since we were allocated a posh new road name and number

 

This has been a most useful thread. I have discovered that if I have a what3words reference, or find the spot on the what3words map, I just have to hit the Navigate button and it gives me the choice of the satnav apps on my phone (in my case TomTom Go but also Google Maps which I have never used for navigation). Once I select TomTom Go it sets up the navigation as if I had input an address.

 

It does work although I don't use it. It's no good though if your phone is out of communication range.

 

My phone has been dropped too many times now, so the actual GPS capability is hit and miss. Sometimes it thinks about upto 15 miles from where I am. This must really mess with Google's data collection

When working though, GPS is independent of your mobile signal. You do need a signal for apps to turn GPS coordinates into something useful though, but What3Words caches the references while there's a signal, so it should still work even in the middle of nowhere, and indeed it always did for me before my phone started playing up.

 

It may be independent but it doesn't mean it always functions. My son-in-law had a bad accident three years ago miles from anywhere, neither his phone or GPS functioned to call emergency services to his location.

 

GPS doesn't work like that. It is only a receiver. It gets a clock signal from four satellites and works out your position from that. There is no upward connection from you. They don't know where you are. You only know where they are.