USE CASE - 3 WORDS TO STOP A SITUATION BECOMING A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

When a contagious virus breaks out in a rural and densely populated area, a rapid, simple and coordinated response is vital to stopping it from spreading. The precise and simple communication of the virus hot spot locations and where food, water and medical assistance need to be distributed are a key part of the response. Communication is the number one barrier when managing a humanitarian situation.

Kate is a health care worker for the UN. She is a 38-year-old doctor, speaks English and French but not the local language. She has had no formal training in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and she is not used to dealing with GPS co-ordinates. However, she knows how to operate a smartphone. With what3words Kate can immediately start collecting & sharing spatial or geographic information.

As she visits each household to conduct her initial case assessment, she communicates urgent needs back to base camp by SMSing the precise 3-word location. Attempting to record information on her she types in stared.stew.firsts incorrectly. The automatic error detection realises that she does not mean stared.stew.firsts (in Brazil), but stared.stew.first in Sierra Leone where she is.

At base camp her partner agencies that receive this information can now start making better informed decisions and deploying resources accordingly. A health centre location is sent to Kate from base camp, and even though there is a poor data connection she can navigate there via what3words’ offline compass.

Incoming aid teams receive a simple 10 minutes briefing on what3words and can proceed without delays. Local response teams, UN agencies, NGOs and the government all use what3words as their common spatial reference system.

Physical maps are printed along with the 3 word addresses of important points of interest. Now the local response team can communicate what is needed at each location to anyone. They can quickly identify points of interest and navigate to them. Kate writes the 3 word address on the side of each house she visits. A 3 word address is also given to each family treated.

When they visit the health centre they provide their 3 word address. They also use what3words to report new outbreaks and urgent needs via SMS and phone. The affected community is now an active part of the solution. Effective communication of a location leads to the effective management of an outbreak.