Emergency services can find you with just three words
SANDTON – Emergency services company ER24 has partnered with what3words to locate you with just three words.
Emergency medical services can now track your location to the nearest 3m² following ER24’s partnership with UK technology company what3words.
The what3words’ location technology has assigned each 3m² in the world a unique three-word address that will never change. According to Lyndsey Duff, what3words country manager for South Africa, the three words are easy to say and share and they are as accurate as GPS coordinates.
“Being in urgent need of help and not being able to describe your accurate location can be incredibly stressful for the person involved and a really difficult situation for ER24,” Duff said.
When a caller phones ER24 and they are standing in a location which may be hard to describe, what3words will provide the caller with three unique words which they can relay to the call centre agent. The call centre agent will narrow down the location to the nearest 3m².
The what3words app, free on Android and iOS, was made ideal to work both on and offline in over 35 languages which include isiZulu, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.
According to Anthony Modena, chairman of the Sandton Community Police Forum, rapid response is one the principles that the forum has been advocating for a long time.
“Our belief is that there are technologies available right now to help us to get the correct resources deployed at the right place and time. It seems that this is one of those technologies,” Modena said.
ER24 centre agents have seen major improvements in locating people in rural areas.
“In an emergency, getting accurate information about the location is crucial, and by offering one more way to share your location we continue to put our patients first,” ER24 CEO Ben Johnson added.
“We want to ensure that ER24 alongside what3words are giving people even more ways to get real help, real fast,” Johnson said.
what3words began operating in South Africa in 2017 and it is now used by the Automobile Association of South Africa to help locate motors in need of roadside assistance.
“By using what3words, everyone has a reliable and simple way to talk about location, which has broader implications on not only emergency services but day-to-day life,” Duff said.
Related articles:
https://sandtonchronicle.co.za/232749/sandton-cpf-hosts-annual-golf-day-to-raise-funds/
