Re:Rescuers question what3words' use in emergencies
by tomcooks on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @09:28AM
(#27354075)
Have you tried having an injured foreigner spell words, maybe foreign, in the exact same situation? Yeah
Re:Rescuers question what3words' use in emergencies
by avh02 on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @10:14AM
(#27354818)
I can ask the same about knowing and pronouncing numbers.
regardless, this is an article about a UK company's product being used by UK emergency services. An injured foreigner who can't speak English is going to have trouble with numbers too (granted, you may learn numbers first). You don't just make a call to emergency services and start spewing out numbers with no other vocabulary.
I can see your point on an international scale, and agree with you that this product is not globally scalable. Language barriers are language barriers until we all have the fictional babel fish.
edit: besides, you can always provide phonetic 'translations' if you want in to a foreigner's language/script if you must - not my preferred solution either though.
Now add in hypothermia, noise, weather, or bodily harm to that equation.
The only improvement would be if the app could provide the NATO phonetic alphabet version of your coordinates to you - but you're not going to remember those without looking at your screen while talking - which is multitasking in a situation that you probably aren't going to do it well in.
Finally, the verbal transfer time is about 1/3.
I don't like this thing for the reasons provided (proprietary and clearly has issues), but would rather see this in use than trying to provide ten numbers while bleeding out.