16 Canal Boating Times September 2018
PRODUCT
FOCUS
Ever had diculty directing someone to
your boat? Maddie Taylor describes how a
new phone app can easily and accurately
communicate your craft’s location
WHERE’S THE BOAT, AGAIN?
“C
an you see the
lock, yet?” I
ask. The answer
is no. “After the
green bridge
did you turn left or right? Ah, wrong
way. Turn around and follow the
canal. You’ll pass under a railway
bridge, then I’m about five boats up
– the blue one, Kingfisher.”
This type of exchange will be
familiar to most boat-owners. The
waterways offer us freedom and an
unrivalled closeness to nature but
they present their own particular
challenges when it comes to giving
directions. This can be frustrating
when directing friends to your boat
but it can also have more serious
repercussions in an emergency.
I’ve lived on board my narrowboat
for four years and, luckily, I haven’t
had to call out the emergency
services during that time. I have,
however, had to direct numerous
friends, engineers and other
tradespeople to my boat. If they’re
boaters themselves the task gets a
little easier. If not, I often head out
to meet them at the nearest road or
landmark rather than try to explain.
That is to say, I used to. Then two
years ago a friend at work asked me
if I’d heard of what3words, as she
thought it’d be useful for me on my
boat.
CONCEPT
what3words is a really simple way
to talk about any location using just
three simple words. It has divided
the entire world into a grid of 3m x
3m squares and given each square a
unique combination of three words –
a three-word address. For example,
the address ///ahead.pasta.print points
to one of my favourite mooring spots
under a tree outside the Crown pub
in Broxbourne, while ///snail.bless.
police is the entrance to Stonebridge
Lock Cafe on the Lee Navigation
– a favourite breakfasting spot.
what3words is available as a free app
for iOS or Android, so you can easily
save and share locations on the go.
Now, when friends ask where my
boat is I open the app and send
them the three-word address. Even
if they don’t have the app yet, they
can view the location on the online
map version, and use Google Maps
to navigate there. I expect a few
of you have twigged that a three-
word address is essentially GPS
coordinates, but by expressing it as
three words, instead of 16 numbers,
it becomes much more user-friendly
and fewer mistakes are made. (By
the way, if I did make a mistake and
typed ///snails.bless.police instead of
///snail.bless.police, the app would
show a location in South Africa,
and suggest that I probably meant
Stonebridge Lock in the UK. So
even if you slightly misremember a
word, you’ll still end up in the right
place.)
IN USE
Bit by bit, what3words is gaining
popularity around the world, and
I’m excited to see how it can make a
difference to the boating community
that means so much to me. For
example, it could be so helpful
for communicating problems
and incidents on the waterways.
Several times I’ve reported injured
swans, listing boats and once a
submerged moped that posed a risk
to navigation. Each time I had to
use a complicated set of directions
involving bridges, names of specific
boats (which I hoped wouldn’t
move). With what3words, I can now
guide them right to the exact 3m x
3m location.
This system means we can share
our favourite waterways locations
more easily too, from pubs and
cafés to walking trails, picnic spots
and swimming lakes, helping us to
get more from the boating lifestyle.
It could be used to provide visitors
with a more accurate location for
events such as canal festivals and
litter picks, as well as to let floating
traders tell customers exactly where
to find them.
To come back to safety and security,
I’ve seen several boat homes sink
during my time on the water and
have heard of some terrible fires.
Having spent time in London, I’m
also no stranger to break-ins, theft
and towpath muggings. All of these
incidents are time-critical and the
faster the emergency services can find
the scene, the more hope there is for
a good outcome. But response teams
face a real challenge when an incident
occurs on the waterways and they have
to navigate by descriptive directions,
which is especially difficult at night.
The good news is that UK police forces
are receptive to the technology, and
looking at the best ways to integrate
what3words into their service. Fire
services are also seeing the potential,
and just last month Tring Fire Service
in Hertfordshire responded efficiently
to a caller who gave them a three-
word address for an out-of-control
campfire. Herts Boat Rescue is also
an enthusiastic user of the technology.
I ask CBT readers to consider
whether a simpler way of
communicating their boat’s location
would make life easier and safer
when afloat. If the answer is yes,
then download the free what3words
app and find your own three-word
address. Next time you need to tell
someone where to find you, report
a problem or call for help, you can
say, “Let me give you the three-word
address.”
what3words divides the world into
3m x 3m squares, which are each
assigned a three-word address.
The what3words app could
prove very useful on the inland
waterways, where communicating
a boat’s location can be dicult.
“This system means we can
share our favourite waterways
locations easily”
