what3words app user stories for Oxford Farming Conference

[cjrsheldrick]

Further to a chat with Chris Fellows from the Farming Forum, I'm posting here to gather some user stories from farmers who use the what3words app, for a talk I'm giving at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thu 4 Jan.

I've seen that what3words (3 words instead of complex latitude/longitude coordinates) has been talked about on this forum several times, and as one of the founders (who grew up on a farm and constantly struggled with non-existent addresses for the gate that needed mending or the septic tank entrance etc) I'm very pleased to hear there have been so many use cases in the farming sector.

I feel privileged to have been asked to speak about what3words to the Oxford Farming Conference and look forward to meeting some of you there. If you have a brief sentence on how you have used the app in your life or work, please drop me a note directly or add it to this thread. Any pictures/videos especially welcome too.

 

[Chris F]

Moved this post to Agricultural Matters as posted in the wrong place initially.

 

[Yale]

If this was incorporated into the DHL,UPS,Yodel,DPD,Hermes etc. In rural areas parcel delivery could be much more efficient.

Our post code tells delivery drivers they have arrived 1/2 mile before they get here.

To rookie drivers and one off deliveries this causes all sorts of confusion.

It is a brilliant concept.

 

[Yale]

@cjrsheldrick

So as above,if you are ordering something online and you go to checkout providing your device knows your location would it be as simple as clicking ‘accept location’ for delivery if your device is in the correct place?

The W3W would then inform the courier of the location from where the order was placed,to be delivered.

 

[cjrsheldrick]

@cjrsheldrick

So as above,if you are ordering something online and you go to checkout providing your device knows your location would it be as simple as clicking ‘accept location’ for delivery if your device is in the correct place?

The W3W would then inform the courier of the location from where the order was placed,to be delivered.

@Yale

The best way to implement what3words on a checkout page is for the e-commerce vendor to implement a what3words checkout page widget (available here: https://what3words.com/e-commerce-plugins). Then, any customer who knows the 3 word address for their entrance can enter it onto that checkout page whilst ordering. The widget includes an autocomplete verification to ensure that the correct 3 word address has been entered (no typos etc). Feel free to write directly to an e-commerce store to ask them to add it in, the majority of our integrations come from consumer demand direct to the stores, and often effective.

 

[Brisel]

I use it regularly. The estate I work for uses it extensively for our own internal information as the will to use OS co-ordinates has faded somewhat.

It would be great if the emergency services would do so too - trying to report hare coursing isn't much fun when they ask for a postcode on land miles from the nearest dwelling. For a proper emergency e.g. air ambulance it could save many minutes getting to someone injured in a field. Need to find the nearest gateway to get a wheeled ambulance in? Sorted.

 

[llamedos]

@JP1 was a big advocate of w3w

It would be worth speaking to him.

 

[llamedos]

@Yale

The best way to implement what3words on a checkout page is for the e-commerce vendor to implement a what3words checkout page widget (available here: https://what3words.com/e-commerce-plugins). Then, any customer who knows the 3 word address for their entrance can enter it onto that checkout page whilst ordering. The widget includes an autocomplete verification to ensure that the correct 3 word address has been entered (no typos etc). Feel free to write directly to an e-commerce store to ask them to add it in, the majority of our integrations come from consumer demand direct to the stores, and often effective.

@Clive one for FMP vendors

 

[renewablejohn]

Use it all the time when working on my own in woodland. At least the emergency services have a fighting chance of finding me. Is there anyway of printing off a grid map say an acre at a time.

 

[cjrsheldrick]

@renewablejohn It wouldn't really be practical to print off the grid map at any resolution as with a 3 word address every 3 metres it would look very congested. We probably have other tools that can help you, feel free to message me directly for more info.

 

[renewablejohn]

@renewablejohn It wouldn't really be practical to print off the grid map at any resolution as with a 3 word address every 3 metres it would look very congested. We probably have other tools that can help you, feel free to message me directly for more info.

Just thought you might have a way of picking up just the middle 3 words in say 30 mtr by 30 mtr grid. Plenty accurate enough for finding someone.

 

[Clive]

If this was incorporated into the DHL,UPS,Yodel,DPD,Hermes etc. In rural areas parcel delivery could be much more efficient.

Our post code tells delivery drivers they have arrived 1/2 mile before they get here.

To rookie drivers and one off deliveries this causes all sorts of confusion.

It is a brilliant concept.

I think in a nutshell this is it - the big delivery companies need to get on board with this for it to really take off in a big way

 

[The Ruminant]

Sadly I had reason to call 999 a couple of months ago. Fortunately the accident was fairly close to a house so I knew the postcode but I asked the operator at the other end of the line if she wanted the W3W reference. She’d not heard of it, nor had any of her immediate colleagues.

She kept me on the line - as they do to make sure the patient is still alert etc, until the ambulance arrived - and as we chatted she asked her line manager, who had heard of it, but didn’t use it.

Shame, really, as it’s a brilliant concept. That’s your challenge: To get the emergency services to use it.

 

[DaveGrohl]

Does this system only work in the UK? I keep meaning to get on board but haven't got round to it yet. I'm thinking it would be great for skiing for various reasons.

 

[Philip Watkins]

Does this system only work in the UK? I keep meaning to get on board but haven't got round to it yet. I'm thinking it would be great for skiing for various reasons.

No, it's global. Even the oceans are covered.

 

[Brisel]

Sadly I had reason to call 999 a couple of months ago. Fortunately the accident was fairly close to a house so I knew the postcode but I asked the operator at the other end of the line if she wanted the W3W reference. She’d not heard of it, nor had any of her immediate colleagues.

She kept me on the line - as they do to make sure the patient is still alert etc, until the ambulance arrived - and as we chatted she asked her line manager, who had heard of it, but didn’t use it.

Shame, really, as it’s a brilliant concept. That’s your challenge: To get the emergency services to use it.

Exactly. Once they have adopted it, spread the word via 1st aid courses etc and you'll get free advertising in the name of safety

 

[adam_farming]

I've just looked into this. What an amazing concept. Like all the best ideas, it's simple. This would be a great tool for using in our business when trying to explain where "that culvert next to the wonky oak tree halfway up the track next to Mr Smith's old house" is. And perhaps in agronomy: a very simple way to map areas to go back and look at (assuming you're lucky enough to have blackgrass confined to a 3x3m square!)

 

[SRRC]

Is there an app which tells me what3words position I am in?

 

[cjrsheldrick]

@SRRC There is a free what3words app which will tell you where you are now (or you can move the map to another location):

iOS: http://what3words.com/ios
Android: http://what3words.com/android

 

[cjrsheldrick]

There is also a new photo app where you can take a photo and it attaches the 3 word address of where the photo was taken. Just search for 3wordphoto in the app store / play store.