Texas winter storm: 'what3words' helps 911 call takers narrow down your location
What3words app can help first responders find you faster
Hopefully, you don't need to call 911 this weekend for any reason. If you do, there's a way for first responders to find you easily, especially if you don't have an exact address for your location.
AUSTIN, Texas - Hopefully, you don't need to call 911 this weekend for any reason. If you do, there's a way for first responders to find you easily, especially if you don't have an exact address for your location.
It's a system called what3words. It divides the globe into 10-foot squares and assigns each a three-word combination.
What is the 'what3words' app?
The backstory:
When you call 911, your phone does send location data. Jacob Talkington, a 911 call taker at the Combined Transportation, Emergency, and Communications Center (CTECC), says there are three ways to find your location.
One is which cell tower you're pinging to. That could be several miles away if you're in a rural area. Phase two narrows it down to half a block. It can be within a few hundred feet with a strong cell connection. The third way, what3words, is the most precise.
"This is much, much, much more accurate, and it does track a little bit while you're on the call. If you're moving, you're not sure what direction you're going, we can typically see those updates coming through and kind of narrow down," Talkington said.
Austin-Travis County prepares for winter weather
As the freezing temperatures continue to head toward Central Texas, the emergency operations center in Austin is ramped up and ready.
You don't have to have the what3words app, but it saves call takers time if you tell them the words if you don't have an address. That way, they don't have to look for it.
"They would skip us having to do all that homework for them," Talkington said.
The technology is available worldwide, but not every 911 region has it implemented.
What3words is especially helpful if you're in a greenbelt, lake, park, trail, or highway, and you don't know exactly where you are.
"Chances are we're going to have a really good location for you if you're anywhere in the city, which is extremely important when we're in whiteout freezing or even just torrential rain," Talkington said.
Austin winter storm: How to get emergency alerts in your county
As Central Texas preps for the weekend winter storm, multiple counties are reminding residents to sign up for their emergency alerts.
Talkington says they're expecting an influx of 911 calls this weekend, so what3words can speed things up.
"We're expecting to have another situation in 2021 where we are just going to be inundated with calls for people who are in dire straits," he said. "This is going to be incredibly useful for scooping up people who can't or won't or are otherwise totally unable to find a location for themselves."
Calling 911 is an immediate risk to life or property. If something is after the fact, you can use the 311 non-emergency line.
If you're wondering why latitude and longitude aren't used instead, Talkington says it's easier to relay words than a string of numbers.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen