4 ms·

https://w3w.me.ss/ https://w3w.me.ss/ collects examples of bad experiences with W3W. It is linked in the paper.

IshKebab 3y ago
It really makes no sense to use it for emergency calls. 999/911 can already access your location by GPS. I think the issue is that other less emergency numbers can't (like 101). That's why they tell you to hang up and call 999 rather than transferring you. But I don't know why they just don't add more numbers to the "allowed to geolocate you" list. Or even build in a "send my location" button in phone calls. You wouldn't even need to modify the phone system - it could send DTFM tones.
- matkoniecz 3y ago
  Note that GPS can be often unreliable or not precise enough. For example, it would be pretty useful to specify correct side of river/road/railway. Arriving at wrong side may result in needing to do very long detour.
  - dspillett 3y ago
    > Note that GPS can be often unreliable or not precise enough. But the W3W app identifies your position by GPS, meaning it is subject to the same general reliability problem via inheritance. Yes, it displays a map as well, so you can identify that you need to quote a different square, but in an emergency situation I'd posit that people are more likely to just read off the words and not really take in the displayed map. And the same solution works for GPS alone anyway – if you are reading your position using a phone app it is likely displaying an approximate map also.
    - matkoniecz 3y ago
      I am not claiming that 3 words is solving that problem, only that "forward GPS from phone" does not solve it. You will need reporter to describe location.
- Haemm0r 3y ago
  Really GPS on the device or just tower trangulation data? Is there information availae on how this works? In Austria emergency services can not access GPS directly afaik.
  - mrcode007 3y ago
    I spoke with someone supplying 911 dispatch systems and they said the data is available instantly from triangulation data and it is extremely accurate
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    Really GPS, but it may not be as universal as I thought. This 2016 article says it is launching only on Android and only in the UK and Estonia. https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/google-now-automatically-provides-location-8502153.amp https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/google-now-automatically-provi...

It really makes no sense to use it for emergency calls. 999/911 can already access your location by GPS. I think the issue is that other less emergency numbers can't (like 101). That's why they tell you to hang up and call 999 rather than transferring you. But I don't know why they just don't add more numbers to the "allowed to geolocate you" list. Or even build in a "send my location" button in phone calls. You wouldn't even need to modify the phone system - it could send DTFM tones.

matkoniecz 3y ago
Note that GPS can be often unreliable or not precise enough. For example, it would be pretty useful to specify correct side of river/road/railway. Arriving at wrong side may result in needing to do very long detour.
- dspillett 3y ago
  > Note that GPS can be often unreliable or not precise enough. But the W3W app identifies your position by GPS, meaning it is subject to the same general reliability problem via inheritance. Yes, it displays a map as well, so you can identify that you need to quote a different square, but in an emergency situation I'd posit that people are more likely to just read off the words and not really take in the displayed map. And the same solution works for GPS alone anyway – if you are reading your position using a phone app it is likely displaying an approximate map also.
  - matkoniecz 3y ago
    I am not claiming that 3 words is solving that problem, only that "forward GPS from phone" does not solve it. You will need reporter to describe location.
Haemm0r 3y ago
Really GPS on the device or just tower trangulation data? Is there information availae on how this works? In Austria emergency services can not access GPS directly afaik.
- mrcode007 3y ago
  I spoke with someone supplying 911 dispatch systems and they said the data is available instantly from triangulation data and it is extremely accurate
- IshKebab 3y ago
  Really GPS, but it may not be as universal as I thought. This 2016 article says it is launching only on Android and only in the UK and Estonia. https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/google-now-automatically-provides-location-8502153.amp https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/google-now-automatically-provi...