'WHAT3WORDS' APPLICATION USED TO LOCATE COUPLE IN DISTRESS

‘WHAT3WORDS’ APPLICATION USED TO LOCATE COUPLE IN DISTRESS

LONDON, ON (March 5, 2021) – Members of the London Police Service located a couple in distress today, with the assistance of the application, ‘what3words’.

At approximately 12:40 p.m., on Friday, March 5, 2021, police received a 9-1-1 call from a woman advising that her and her husband were stuck on an embankment near the ice, in the area of Tigerlily and Riverbend roads.

The woman was able to use the application to provide an exact location to our 9-1-1 dispatchers, and emergency crews, including members of the London Police Service, London Fire, and Middlesex-London Paramedic Services, were immediately sent to the area. The couple was located by London police at approximately 1 p.m., and assisted to safety.

There were no reported injuries.

This application is based on a global mapping system, which assigns three-word tags to three-metre locations. The three words are then converted into latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates and dispatchers are able to send the responding officers to the exact location of the person in distress. The application does not require data as long as it was previously downloaded by the user. If an individual is ever in a situation where they are lost or in distress, the system can be utilized to determine where to send emergency services.

The London Police Service recently adopted the new technology, and it provided great assistance in locating and providing immediate assistance to the couple who called 9-1-1 today. We are urging members of the public to download this free technology, as it helped out tremendously in today’s incident. 

For more information in relation to the application, visit the what3words website. 

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For more information contact:

Cst. Sandasha Bough
Media Relations Officer
C. 519-854-8576
mediaofficer@londonpolice.ca