Do you use what3words?

[shadowfacex]

This thing recently popped on my radar, as I’ve noticed a few airsoft organisers provide this on their websites. Do you guys care about it at all for finding your way to the sites?

[Shamal]

The three words I use is "How fucking far??" ?

 

Never used it. Satnav and postcode works for me.

 

Regards ?

[kasaran]

use it for work.  useful for getting to site out in the sticks.   good for pin pointing obscure field entrances 

[colinjallen]

I used it to report an unexploded and rather corroded shell on Dartmoor in the summer.

[SBoardley]

We’re the words you used “don’t , stand, here” by any chance?

[Druid799]

10 minutes ago, SBoardley said:

We’re the words you used “don’t , stand, here” by any chance?

I’d be more inclined to go with “run for it” ?

[colinjallen]

1 hour ago, Druid799 said:

I’d be more inclined to go with “run for it” ?

We had a good look at it, just in case it was a nice, harmless solid shot that could have come home with us.  The rear fuse put an end to that idea so we wandered off to higher ground to get a signal and phoned the range office.  We were rather disappointed that they decided not to come out to dispose of it.

[Druid799]

4 minutes ago, colinjallen said:

We were rather disappointed that they decided not to come out to dispose of it.

That’s a bit of a WTF ! if you found it then someone else could find it , and the next ones mite not be so clued in and start messing about with it .

[colinjallen]

6 minutes ago, Druid799 said:

That’s a bit of a WTF ! if you found it then someone else could find it , and the next ones mite not be so clued in and start messing about with it .

It was a bit surprising, but it was in a very remote area that gets very few people passing through it, so I guess they left it for 48 hours until the training area was closed to the public again.

[Cannonfodder]

22 minutes ago, Druid799 said:

That’s a bit of a WTF ! if you found it then someone else could find it , and the next ones mite not be so clued in and start messing about with it .

[ak2m4]

never used it myself but I like the concept.  I think it's something that Royal Mail could do in the near future when GPS gets down to 1m per square.  So with when scanning a packet before posting could be used to double check the address with the location, could cut down the amount of post put through wrong doors etc.  

[Sneaky]

I have used it a couple of times, much better than GPS.

[Rogerborg]

Love the concept, installed some apps, have never, ever used it and likely never, ever will.

[shadowfacex]

Looks like majority of people here have never used it, so it doesn’t make sense to invest in this, as there are already links to Google and Apple maps with GPS coordinates.

 

Thanks for your input folks!

Edited January 30, 2022 by shadowfacex

[Tommikka]

It’s a fine idea, but just another thing

 

It pinpoints a 3 metre square 

But if I send my co-orientates then I’m pinpointed to a 1 metre square, or smaller depending on signal

 

A slight flaw is spelling, a short while ago what3words was used by someone to ask for help looking for a lost dog.  They were not the sharpest tool so what3words was probably their best option.  Except they couldn’t spell, posted on Facebook “I’m here X X X” with no context - not even mentioning a lost dog, or even what3words.  By the time  people worked out what was going on the dog was found 

Had they put up coordinates then they would presumably have put the wrong numbers up - but depending on the digit might have been out by a metre, cm or a thousand miles

Copy/paste or a screenshot would have worked

 

Regarding picking up rusty stuff on army training ranges - don’t touch anything, especially not the old rusty stuff

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/422666/9-03-269_Dartmoor_Walks_Rides_Booklet_Web_Version.pdf

With regard to using what3words, if I was writing a game info pack today then I would add it to the choices on how to find a site 

[colinjallen]

5 hours ago, Tommikka said:

It’s a fine idea, but just another thing

 

It pinpoints a 3 metre square 

But if I send my co-orientates then I’m pinpointed to a 1 metre square, or smaller depending on signal

 

A slight flaw is spelling, a short while ago what3words was used by someone to ask for help looking for a lost dog.  They were not the sharpest tool so what3words was probably their best option.  Except they couldn’t spell, posted on Facebook “I’m here X X X” with no context - not even mentioning a lost dog, or even what3words.  By the time  people worked out what was going on the dog was found 

Had they put up coordinates then they would presumably have put the wrong numbers up - but depending on the digit might have been out by a metre, cm or a thousand miles

Copy/paste or a screenshot would have worked

 

Regarding picking up rusty stuff on army training ranges - don’t touch anything, especially not the old rusty stuff

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/422666/9-03-269_Dartmoor_Walks_Rides_Booklet_Web_Version.pdf

With regard to using what3words, if I was writing a game info pack today then I would add it to the choices on how to find a site 

What3words is a useful tool for showing where a site is; postcodes in the countryside can cover quite a large area.

Agree with you about picking stuff up in training areas; however, it depends on how familiar you are with what you are looking at.  We have quite a good collection of stuff that we have found:).

[Tommikka]

19 minutes ago, colinjallen said:

Agree with you about picking stuff up in training areas; however, it depends on how familiar you are with what you are looking at.  We have quite a good collection of stuff that we have found:).

No comment regarding my young teens on Salisbury plain

[Cannonfodder]

Even worse when it's an old battlefield. On a uni field trip to Cyprus we stopped at a place which had a tank berm along with trenches and a bunker. One not so bright guy decided to pick up an old rusty cylinder about 4 inches wide and 3 inches long and asked me if I knew what it was. He couldn't understand why I told him to put it down till I mentioned possible unexploded ordnance. To be clear I had no idea what it was so didn't want to risk it

[shadowfacex]

10 hours ago, Tommikka said:

With regard to using what3words, if I was writing a game info pack today then I would add it to the choices on how to find a site 

Thanks for your thoughts. It might be something left on the backburner, as despite its usefulness, I’m looking for patterns of actual usage of what3words.

 

There’s a ton of seemingly cool things that barely anyone touches, because what we say, think, and do are three completely different things. Humans are weird like that.

[Rogerborg]

Don't overthink it. Provide the what3words for the site, as well as a postcode and a route description written by humans for humans. If people use the 3words, they use it. If they don't, they don't. It's pretty much the least important consideration for any event.

[Tommikka]

2 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

It's pretty much the least important consideration for any event.

Flushing toilets:

 

Where do we stop for our last chance pre game McShit on a proper toilet 

[Rogerborg]

4 minutes ago, Tommikka said:

Flushing toilets:

 

Where do we stop for our last chance pre game McShit on a proper toilet 

 

[Lozart]

I'll give you three words - Four King Maps.

 

https://www.fourkingmaps.co.uk/

 

(you're welcome)

[Keldon]

18 hours ago, colinjallen said:

Agree with you about picking stuff up in training areas; however, it depends on how familiar you are with what you are looking at.  We have quite a good collection of stuff that we have found:).

 

You would think this might be sensible. Just a couple of weeks back picked wife up from work in town only to find normal way home closed off by police car. 

Had to go round and noticed the distance of cordon that was erected. Got home checked FB group for my little town, and found that someone had found and drove some UXO to the local fire station in the middle of a residential area. 

 

To think finding something like that picking it driving into the centre of a town to drop off at fire station it just beggers belief sometime. Don't touch and report.

 

[Cannonfodder]

2 hours ago, Lozart said:

I'll give you three words - Four King Maps.

 

https://www.fourkingmaps.co.uk/

 

(you're welcome)

That's brilliant. Especially for this location