Communications of the ACM
Lost in L.A.? Fire Department Can Find You with What3words Location Technology
What3words assigns three-word labels to each of 57 trillion 10-foot-square patches on Earth. The Los Angeles Fire Department now uses the technology for emergency response.
Credit: What3words
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has entered into a partnership with digital location startup What3words, which assigns a unique three-word name to each of 57 billion 10-foot-square spots on Earth.
The department had been testing the application since last year, using it to locate places that emergency crews needed to reach even if the sites lacked conventional addresses.
LAFD receives What3words locations through 911 calls on Android phones or iPhones, or through text messages sent by dispatchers with links that retrieve the three-word addresses.
People also can use the What3words app to pinpoint their own locations.
Increasing numbers of signs identify locations with their What3words designations, particularly in wildlands.
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