“If you are still offended maybe swearword based navigation isn’t for you.”

🤣

For the vast majority of people (not STW types obvs) they won’t have a clue on working out long / lat map locations so W3W is a great compromise tool.

It also works globally which is often overlooked.

It doesn’t have to be an app or a system or anything just call handlers asking a few simple questions to double check, don’t see how this is hard.

In the vast majority of cases, call handlers will be dealing with a stressed / traumatised / injured person, potentially in an unfamiliar (and possibly unsafe) location and they may not be able to accurately describe their location (especially a random road or not of woodland with no real distinguishing features) and W3W adverts have always stated that it’ll get you down to a 3m x 3m grid.

You can understand why the poor person making the phone call is expecting it to be easily understood and can’t get why the call handler is asking for grid ref and postcode and various other checks…

Edit: not sure if ambulance sat nav systems have been updated recently but I know they certainly used to need a postcode, it wouldn’t work off a W3W. Paramedics were often using their own phones as back up.

For the vast majority of people (not STW types obvs) they won’t have a clue on working out long / lat map locations so W3W is a great compromise tool.

I get this. But then it’s monumentally frustrating that you can’t give an OS ref to the emergency services if that’s what you’ve got (And the breakdown services too, come to that). I tried to give an OS reference to a 999 call handler when we were still in Hampshire. I was with a very ill asthma attack person, but in a bit of the world without mountain rescue, but still in quite a wild location. They we not having any of it. Paramedics tried to drive as close as they could and walk to us and were frankly useless. One of them walked his mum’s dog in the area and thought he knew better than the instructions I gave them. 40mins of listening to sirens until they turned up.

For the vast majority of people (not STW types obvs) they won’t have a clue on working out long / lat map locations so W3W is a great compromise tool.

Which is why the article I linked to mentions the use of the OS Locate App.

Does OS Locate work outside the UK?

I’ve been quite quick to defend W3W in the past, in summary I’ve always said it is the responsivity of the call handlers to not treat the location as three words but, instead, as a reference that needs reading back as individual letters. If checked it is fine. However there is a flaw which seems fundamental and I believe is a cause of a lot of the issues we see. The location given in the app is often where the destination curser is set to, this is not the same as current actual location. To get current location you need to hit the arrow in the bottom right corner. I believe lot of the’ near but not close enough’ locations given are a result of this issue. You only need to tap the screen to then see the location change from where you are to where you have tapped.
The advantage of OS locate is that it will only give you your current location, however hard you try to make it tell you otherwise.

Does OS Locate work outside the UK?

Yes. It shows your position in Lat/Long. Our DofE group used it in Sweden. Can’t recall if you need to switch from OSGR to Lat/Long in settings or if it’s automatic but it does work.

It also works globally which is often overlooked

But if you have the English language version, it will give you your position using the English word set, which will not necessarily be the same as the local version.

Can’t recall if you need to switch from OSGR to Lat/Long in settings or if it’s automatic but it does work.

It shows Lat/Long as standard alongside UK OS grid.

I *used* too, now it doesn’t. I cannot se a menu to change it either….

It’s in the Settings

(About…Settings…Co-ordinates)

Yes. It shows your position in Lat/Long.

That’s not a good solution though. Reading out a lat/long is a right pita.

I’ve been feeling for a while that plus codes are the right solution for this.

I’ve always said it is the responsivity of the call handlers to not treat the location as three words but, instead, as a reference that needs reading back as individual letters.

That really seems like it’s just not fit for purpose.

Checking the odd 20 characters vs a 6 fig grid ref.

That’s not a good solution though. Reading out a lat/long is a right pita.

You can also hit the Share button to send it by Message (Messenger or SMS), Email, Facebook and Twitter.

Yeah, but if you can do that, then doing anything *except* that is crazy.

That really seems like it’s just not fit for purpose.

Checking the odd 20 characters vs a 6 fig grid ref.

Yeah but spelling a word tells you if you’ve got the right word or not. checking 6 digits doesn’t do that. Overall words are better than strings of numbers for this job, even if longer, it’s just being let down by other parts of the process.

In the end I don’t get why there isn’t just a core app for android and iphone that does nothing but generate a location in a well designed way and includes a straightforward function to share it. Something foolproof and integrated.

straightforward function to share it.

Scottish borders, so not that far from “civilization” at any time but so many areas with no phone reception. I was training my dofe kids to use os locate screen grab the location then head to reception to make the 999 call. We would try it on training days and most of the time I’d get the location of “reception” not incident. Weirdly the most effective pair had sharpie’d the 6fig on each others foreheads. (Parents found it funny fortunately)

So many people are willing to come up with the most unbelievably inconvenient and original-purpose-annihilating ideas to save their precious w3w from being the utter **** trash it so obviously is.

They’re lying to themselves and everyone else.

It’s wild. pic.twitter.com/7dXUX8CbdW

— Bloor (Mastodon: @bloor@bloor.tw) (@alexbloor) September 1, 2022