For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
  • 1
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
By rjc101
#1715490
PaulB wrote:Still doesn’t seem as easy or foolproof as the phone sending location data to the emergency services directly. (If only all the emergency services used the system!)


If supported by the phone, network, and the emergency service. This message goes to the BT operator, then that is passed onwards by them depending on the emergency service being contacted and what their platform supports. That means Police, Fire, Ambulance, and Coast Guard need to support the same data interface into their command and control system (which, naturally is very different between forces).

People calling an emergency number are often in distress, and under pressure, but they can follow simple instruction quite well. A number of Air Ambulances can now send a caller a text, with a link that lets them view the camera on phone remotely. So they can actually see what is happening to best work out if they should deploy or update a crew en-route.

Likewise a caller being asked to provide a precise location can easily follow an instruction to get a W3W precise position report.

For Emergency Services W3W is just another tool to have in the box to ensure they can actually respond to the right place. It isn't mandated, but it is exceedingly handy and simple for the user and the emergency service to implement. Where emergency call centres merge, the loss of local knowledge can be a real problem when receiving a caller in distress.

What really matters what is the most effective way between the call hander and the caller to get an accurate and precise position, by whatever means is available to them.
User avatar
By eltonioni
#1715492
It's not just for emergency services...

Edit

... although, just yesterday our locals used it to rescue Eddie who had fallen down the edge. :)

rjc101, kanga liked this
User avatar
By JAFO
#1715532
matthew_w100 wrote:If you're calling 999 (in this country, which if it's 999 and not something else it would have to be) your phone would automatically send your gps location.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=113108


I'm afraid that Riverrock was right I the thread you linked to and your GPS signal is not necessarily sent. I am led to believe that W3W has already aided several searches and rescues.
User avatar
By matthew_w100
#1715744
JAFO - The only RR post in that thread that I can see you might be referring to is this one:

riverrock wrote:
GrahamB wrote:I would imagine that was done by triangulation/multilateration from the base stations that your mobile was in contact with - the more masts, the more accurate the location will be.

If your phone implements Advanced Mobile Location (and most now do), it will send an SMS of your location to the emergency services transparently to them when you call an emergency number.



Which would tend to suggest that GPS *is* sent, surely?

The only circumstance I (now) see where W3W would be superior is GtE's suggestion of a companion trotting back down the mountain to get a signal - ie a situation where caller is not in the same place as the person who needs to be rescued.
User avatar
By JAFO
#1715753
It was the "if" that I was referring to. Your phone will send a signal if AML enabled, therefore it won't necessarily send the signal. I'm a bit out of the loop now so don't know what proportion of phones are enabled but friends still in the loop tell me that W3Ws has contributed to their success on several occasions so it would seem that location can still be uncertain.
User avatar
By eltonioni
#1715761
Apple only enabled it last year on 11.3(?).

This chap who seems to have a handle on it. Summary; loads of caveats, have options, don't trust that the emergency services will get your location automatically and / or pass it on.
https://www.haydnwilliams.com/blog/999-112/
JAFO liked this
User avatar
By defcribed
#1716082
The start of my driveway is at reason.blurs.nitrate

This could be moderately useful, because the geographical centre of my postcode is some distance away and frequently takes delivery drivers and first-time visitors up the wrong road.

I had hoped for my favourite three words: England, batting, collapse.
By PaulB
#1716086
If you wanted to find out where that location was, if anywhere how would you do it?
User avatar
By Rob P
#1716089
Go to W3W and type in "england.batting.collapse"

Regrettably the closest it gets is somewhere on the NW coast of Sri Lanka - ///inland.batting.collapse

Rob P
eltonioni liked this
By PaulB
#1748556
Sharing your location should work just as well...... Can't get excited about W3W
By rdfb
#1748560
PaulB wrote:Sharing your location should work just as well...... Can't get excited about W3W


There are other non-proprietary systems too, such as Google's plus codes, if you find lat/long painful (I know I do). Already integrated into Google Maps. Most people won't need to download an additional app.

Anyone can generate Google Plus codes without needing to enter into an agreement with anyone. That means that any app could integrate support.
kanga liked this
By JoeC
#1748594
I couldn’t fathom its use until last week. Someone suggested going to see a starling murmuration. A helpful post on a website used what 3 words to pinpoint the exact bit of hill to stand on. I downloaded the app and was directed to the exact spot I needed to be at without the worry that maybe I wasn’t in the optimum place.
Rob P, mick w, eltonioni liked this
By Boxkite
#1748636
PaulB wrote:Sharing your location should work just as well...... Can't get excited about W3W

If someone tells you three words, you are not likely to forget them, and getting one word wrong will give you a location so far from where you might expect it that it should flag up that something is not right.
If someone passes a lat/long over the phone, and then explains that it's decimal degrees or degrees with decimal minutes or deg/min/sec, and they or you get one digit wrong you could end up close to where you need to be without realising that the position is practically useless.

I have to add that I am not one to normally embrace such seemingly useless technology/apps, (I don't do farcebook or bird cheeping etc) but I can't see a downside to W3W, not that I use it cuz it probably tracks your every step.... :D :shifty:
kanga liked this
By rdfb
#1748658
Boxkite wrote:...but I can't see a downside to W3W...


Here's one: Tim can't, if he chooses to, just integrate W3W into SkyDemon for example. He'd need to sign an agreement with W3W first, which may include handing over money. On the other hand, he can (and has) supported lat/long of course, and could also do the same thing for other non-proprietary systems like Google Plus codes (he doesn't need Google's agreement to implement that).

It doesn't matter if Tim wants to do this or not, or if W3W wants to let him do that for free or not. My point is that this kind of thing stifles innovation and widespread adoption because W3W have inserted themselves in the middle as a gatekeeper.

I'd prefer to see an open system be the ubiquitous one because then it really could be universal and available for use in all apps without restriction. I find it quite offensive that despite there already being an open standard, W3W are trying to "take ownership" of location data in this way.
  • 1
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8