what3words

A snowHead

@martinm, try it in the dark. No problem if someone can shout for help. If they can't and the terrain isn't billiard table flat they could be in a lot of trouble before you find them. We wouldn't even get such a large search area. If they are somewhere on the coast there is probably less than 20-25m between the shore and the easy escape.....generally less than this, so triangulation is augmented by geography. Throw in a few cliffs and rocks and it can be hard to locate someone in the dark even if you are constantly getting pinged a GPS location.
We train for inland SAR but I've never actually been involved in one. 100m*100m in a forest is a huge search are. Probably be handy enough if they were lost on a football pitch though. wink

A snowHead

Looks really useful.

We live in a fairly remote area with somewhat dodgy postcodes as well as the OH regularly "breaking" (AKA getting lost) from the group when we are out. And she is useless at navigating. She once headed the wrong way along the M4 on her way to the west country. She only realised when she ended up almost in central London.....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Fridge03, before satnav was a thing I got a bit lost at the M4/M25 junction. We got on to the M25 OK but I'm nearly sure it shouldn't have taken us 3 hours to get to Thorpe in the middle of the night.....and Dartford wasn't on the route we had initially planned. Laughing

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I didn't realise there was a thread on this already, but then I though there must be all of us are skiing geeky nerds.
I'm going to look into the Google alternative, but I've got to admit we find this method of pin pointing addresses to be invaluable.

Postcodes on google maps have changed a few months ago from to be showing on a street to perhaps the middle of a field nearby.

We often use it and its very handy.
I've yet to use it in a situation where I share it via WhatsApp to say meet me for a lunchtime pizza at the ///resemblance.affronts.rook

But I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Mountain Rescue in the Uk recommend the OS locate. App. Over what three words. It’s free, gives you a grid ref altitude and position on the free OS map system.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

I use What3words all the time, but it’s slow to persuade other people to use it. It’s useful in many situations that haven’t been mentioned in this thread. From my own recent experience:

I live in a rural area and our postcode covers several houses and a church. Delivery drivers struggle to find the entrance to our house every day, and because of the church, they often end up several streets away. What3Words would get them right to our front door. Or alternatively to the far end of our garage if I prefer for packages to be left there.

We have a farm gate at the end of our property where we sometimes get garden deliveries like compost. Without What3Words, that would require a fairly confusing conversation (which gate, which yard, on which road, how far along, etc).

I’ve recently done a theatre tour and often I am looking for the stage door or loading entrance to a building. Post codes and addresses direct you to the front but stage doors are often in the back or around the side. Getting a vehicle to the right loading entrance requires lots of explanations without a system like What3Words.

I’ve never used the app for emergency services, but it has a lot of practical value where I live and I’m always surprised that more people don’t use it. Using it for skiing meetups on the mountain is absolutely genius!

@Wendyjh was driving near home a month ago, saw a man sitting under a tree looking a bit peaky & got the ambulance to him using what3words.

Help!!

what3words

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