For those lost or maimed in the middle of nowhere, a smartphone app that’s become wildly popular with some emergency responders and is growing fast claims that getting help is as simple telling a dispatcher three words.
What3Words (W3W) works off a mapping system that’s divided the entire world in to squares, roughly 3 square yards, with each square assigned a random three words to identify it.
For example, “jump, legend, warblers” applies to a precise location in Vietnam, and “flesh, unzip, whirlwind” to another in Russia. While it seems random, it can be a lifesaver for people lost in the middle of nowhere who have no clue about what coordinates they’re at.
Looking at the app on their phone, it’ll tell them where they are with the words, which will pinpoint those coordinates for search and rescue. The app’s makers claim that all a lost or injured person needs to do is tell a dispatcher “what three words” apply to the square they’re on, and rescuers will know exactly where to go.
It’s hugely popular in Great Britain, where more than 85% of rescue services use it, although some have reported mixed results.
Trouble with it in Wyoming seems to be hit-and-miss accuracy.
When avid Wyoming outdoorsman Owen Miller tried pulling it up on his laptop while speaking on the phone with Cowboy State Daily, he said it got to within a few miles of his actual location.
“If I was out here with a broken leg, I’d want it to get a little closer than a few miles,” he said.
Perhaps Another Tool In The Toolbox
When asked about W3W, Teton County Search and Rescue Coordinator Mike Estes told Cowboy State Daily that he’d never heard of it, but it sounds intriguing.
Still, it would more likely be something that his team would use in addition to, not in place of, existing emergency apps and other technology already in use.
“You can call and text 911 here in Teton County, and that will give dispatchers your exact location,” he said.
The catch is that Teton County, like much of Wyoming, still has many places where there’s no cellphone service, and W3W apparently relies on a cell connection, Estes said.
In some places where service is sketchy, texting might work where a voice call won’t, Estes added.
“The difference between texting vs. a phone call is the texting requires way less service,” he said.
The newest iPhone models also have the option of connecting to satellite service during emergencies.
“It will ask you if you want to use the emergency satellite connection to call for help,” Estes said.
Otherwise, searchers might have to work from the latest “ping” a lost person’s phone sent to a cellphone tower to establish at least a general search zone, he said.
Still Needs Ironing Out
W3W has been getting mostly good reviews overseas and there’s a push for it to catch on in the U.S., but there also are reports of it failing in some instances and rescuers being sent to the wrong locations, the BBC reports.
Miller said that could have been the case if he had tried using it to summon help when he test drove the app.
The app pinged his location as being not only miles away from where he actually was, but on the wrong side of Interstate 90, he said.
He also wondered whether W3W will gain enough traction in the U.S. to compete with the onX Hunt smartphone app, which he and numerous other Wyoming hunters use.
That app comes in handy because it not only gives hunters their exact location, it also has detailed maps of the surrounding countryside about which land is public and which is private.
Hunters can also “pin” their location on onX and send it to other users, he said.
“If I put an elk down, and I want you to come help me, I can put a pin on where I am and it will bring you right to me, within feet,” he said.
He wonders if W3W could ever unseat onX as Wyoming hunters’ favorite app.
“I don’t know, at least in the hunting industry, whether this will be a big thing or not,” he said. “In my opinion, it just does the same thing that onX does.”
Things Are Getting Better
Apps such as W3W, better satellite service connections and similar technology is improving the search and rescue business, Estes said.
And Sometimes things have a rough start, such as W3W still pinging wrong locations.
For example, a crash detecting feature on some cellphones inundated emergency services with false alarms when it first gained popularity a couple of years ago.
In 2022, some dispatch centers in Wyoming and neighboring states were flooded with false emergency pings every time a skier fell over on the slopes or a snowmobiler hit a bump a little too hard.
Things have improved, Estes said, as the smartphone feature has gotten better at distinguishing between serious crash impact and simple falls.
“We’re not getting as many false crash alerts as we were before, he said. “The technology is getting better.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
