Image from What3Words website https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app/
Owen Sound’s Emergency Communications Centre is now using the what3words location app to help them find people in an emergency.
Local police are encouraging the community to download the app in the event they become lost or are unable to describe their location to emergency dispatchers.
The City’s police service dispatches for 25 fire departments and seven police services including Saugeen Shores, Hanover, and West Grey.
The app can locate 9-1-1 callers faster because it has divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and given each square a unique what3words address.
Police give the example, —sustaining.lazier.glaring—- will take you one of the trails in Harrison Park near the campground.
Locally, back on January 10th, OPP used the app to find a pair of lost hikers near McCurdy Drive in Lion’s Head. (McCurdy Drive links to a number of hiking trails including the Bruce Trail).
On a broader geographical scale, police say it has helped to rescue people from a range of incidents including locating victims of rural road accidents, people trapped in flood waters, kidnap victims and critically injured hikers and cyclists.
Police say it gives callers a simple way to describe precisely where help is needed and allows emergency response crews to get resources directly to the scene.
Police say the app works offline making it ideal for use in areas that might have a poor internet connection.
If you don’t have the app installed, a dispatcher will send you a link to a mobile version of the site: ca.findme.w3w.co, which they can open in a mobile browser and read the three words on their screen to the 9-1-1 call operator. All the app requires to display your what3words address is a GPS signal.
You can download the free what3words app for iOS and Android or use the online map. It’s also available in 40 languages.
The London, England based tech company what3words started the rollout of the technology to Emergency Services in the UK and South Africa in 2019, and Australia in 2020. The app is also used in the UK, South Africa, Australia and Germany.
City Police Chief Craig Ambrose says in a statement, “Being able to use what3words is going to make a huge difference, especially in life-threatening situations.”
He explains, “For anyone who finds themselves lost, injured or in need of help in an unfamiliar location, trying to communicate where help is needed just using visual descriptions of what they can see, or trying to remember what direction they were heading, can be very stressful.”
Ambrose notes, “For the person taking the call in our dispatch centre, the information is not always accurate and this can make coordinating the appropriate response very challenging. Our dispatch team can now ask for a precise what3words address, or send an SMS with a link to what3words to a caller who doesn’t know where they are, meaning we can save precious time responding to emergencies and helping callers much more easily.”
Fire Departments the Owen Sound Police Service dispatches for inlcude: Owen Sound, Georgian Bluffs (Intertownship Fire), Chatsworth, Meaford, Grey Highlands (Markdale/Flesherton), West Grey (Durham, Ayton, Neustadt), Dundalk, Tara-Arran, Chesley, Paisley, South Bruce (Teeswater, Mildmay), North Bruce Peninsula (Lion’s Head, Tobermory), South Bruce Peninsula (Sauble Beach, Wiarton), Saugeen First Nation and Chippewas of Nawash.
