Topic: HERES A BIT OF FUN

[ACE]

 Use 'what three words' to find your allotment then in one of the 3m squares there should be a suitable name for your plot. mine is ///stone.flow.cropping   

[Paulh]

Mine include bonds.insert.swear and green.scam.became but I'll stick with truly.enjoy.feast!

[Obelixx]

Our plot is 1.4 hectares of ex farm land and buildings.

The demolished, flattened cow barn gets "redemption. conjurer. bruiser".

The open ended barns which lost their heads in the October tornado get "twigs. enlarges. beholds".

The original farmhouse, abandoned and becoming a ruin but full of swallow nests at them gets "salvage.reply.preparations"

The hen shed gets "scrap.boyancy.wearying".

The annex which used to be a pig shed gets "scary.hypothetical.unearths".

The house itself has far too many options depending on where I click the mouse.  One is "taint.bluebirds.tinkers".

Definitely a bit of fun.

[Deb P]

Things/liked/photo is the square I liked best, although there was one that mentioned healer which would be appropriate for me but I couldn’t tell from the satellite photo if it was the edge of my plot or next doors!

[Beersmith]

Great fun!

That said, I'm not sure this will really take off.  With GPS and location finding on most phones it seems a bit like a solution looking for a problem.  I am not sure if it is true but my brother reckoned there was a location in Canada that included the word elephant, but the same words with elephants instead of elephant was in Brazil. 

I could not be bothered loading yet another app, so my three words for my plot :-

Berrywood. Road. Northampton.

Close enough I think.

[ACE]

Taken off down this way, search and rescue use it as another tool. But it is perfect if you have to find someone in a crowded pub. Or if you lose your missus in sainsburys

[gray1720]

soccer.tunnel.erase & verge.lifted.hedge will land you bang in the middle of my two half-plots. My greenhouse isn't caskets.sleeping.secrets, but the actual words are close enough that I thought it was a good description of seeds!

[Obelixx]

Round here places had local place names rather than road names.  Ours is a case in point that was given a road name 8 years ago.  It hasn't made itonto all GPS systems, including our own.  Some deliveries find us easily and some end up at the wrong end of the road - about 2km and 5 houses away as we're in the countryside - and some end up on the wrong end of the nearby crossroads, presumably cos their drivers can't read road names.   

We end up on the phone directing them but that's another problem as the mobile signal is just one bar at our house.

I believe the 3 word system has been used to good effect by people in trouble in the Lakeland fells and the Scottish highlands.

[Beersmith]

search and rescue use it as another tool

I'm sorry to say I don't understand how this works.  If you are out walking, say in the Lake district, and you get into difficulty and needed help, how will you know the three words that pinpoint your location?  You would need internet access to identify your "three words". But if you have connectivity, you could equally well search for your OS grid reference, or for that matter, ring the emergency services direct.

What am I missing?

PS I fully appreciate the explanation given by Obelixx. A house is a fixed location, and once found the words will not change.

But if I needed a rescue from the countryside I would be trying to conserve valuable battery power. If I could dig out an OS map and read the grid reference direct I'd probably do that.

[Obelixx]

Either they had a handy mast or a satellite phone.  Some people do.  Mine is a dumb Windows phone so it wouldn't save me but then I have an arthritic knee and toes so I wouldn't be up a mountain in the first place.

[Paulh]

Here's an appropriate BBC item on it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797

[gray1720]

search and rescue use it as another tool

If I could dig out an OS map and read the grid reference direct I'd probably do that.

You could, but that would only give your location - assuming you got it right (speaks someone who can never remember whether Eastings or Northings come first) - to a hundred-metre square. At night, blowing a hooley, driving rain/snow/whatever, that could still take an age to search. Even in the daytime, I've seen a few spots where that square would take an age to search. Not just in the hills either. There's a field near us with corn (rye?) as high as my eye.

What3words pins you down to a three-metre square. It's going to need to be pretty stupendously bad conditions to not find someone in that space. Of course, you have to get your words right...

[Beersmith]

Here's an appropriate BBC item on it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57156797

Thanks for the link. An interesting article.  Sounds like a useful tool in some circumstances but obviously has weaknesses. The people actually having to do the rescues don't seem impressed.

Thanks again.

[Beersmith]

speaks as someone who can never remember whether Eastings or Northings come first


I think the maps have a guide printed on the symbols area.  Though I could be wrong as I don't have one to hand.  And you are perfectly correct it could be a huge problem if the weather was bad.

But I'm not yet convinced it would be easier to use what3words. I think some devices will provide a GPS fix without an internet connection. Getting a message through might be the hard part. In locations that are remote a 999 text might be the best option.

An interesting discussion. Quite amusing in some ways. Exactly like Obelixx, I have mobility issues. Rheumatoid arthritis in my case, and zero chance of getting up a steep hill these days. So all a bit academic. Good chat though!

[ACE]

Search and rescue down this way is mainly used for shipping and sailing incidents. Far better communication devices than we need to use. An  extra tool when time is precious, can't be bad.  An accident happened here this week at Forest road, Newchurch, the ambulance first went to Forest road Newport. What 3 words would have been handy there.

[Beersmith]

Search and rescue down this way is mainly used for shipping and sailing incidents. Far better communication devices than we need to use. An  extra tool when time is precious, can't be bad.  An accident happened here this week at Forest road, Newchurch, the ambulance first went to Forest road Newport. What 3 words would have been handy there.

Really good point.  Invaluable in the right circumstances.

[BarriedaleNick]

It's a bit odd over here as it seems street addresses are a modern fangled invention.  I give people our official address and 25% of the time we get calls saying they can't find us or that the address is invalid.  I normally send them my location via WhatsApp but they can be convoluted.  I have even added our GPS co-ords when making an order online but still people don't find us so three words would be very handy IF other people knew what the heck it was!  I have tried adding it to notes on an order but I think people regard us as being a bit mental because they don't know what it is..
I mean our Post Code sticks a pin in google maps outside our front door and still drivers fail to find us.
///undertone.nuanced.sabbatical is our gate but ///obliges.beanpole.fencing which is our main house seems more appropriate!