47 unmanned systems
inside
August/September 2016 ugust/Septe August/September 2016 August/September 2016 be August/September 2016 0 August/September 2016 6 August/September 2016
ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY.
sourcing of information during a humanitar-
ian crisis.
"During a disaster you can't use street ad-
dresses," Jones told Inside Unmanned Systems,
"the landscape may have completely shifted
because there's been a f lood or an earthquake
or hurricane. So often the only option really is
coordinates. If you're in the field and you are
getting coordinates over a radio, over a phone—
even people sharing locations on social media—
coordinates are very complex to communicate
and so difficult and error-prone to use in that
context. So UN-Asign integrated us into their
app so in any disaster zone, when taking a pho-
tograph to collect data, this photograph gets
tagged with its three-word address—so every-
body has a simple way to talk about location."
Florida-based Altavian provides profes-
sional-grade fixed-wing and rotary drones for
data acquisition as well as a data system called
Fetch. One application they are focused on is
providing support during emergencies—and
they have just begun introducing what3words.
"At this point we see the most applicability in
developing parts of the world and, in particu-
lar, for unique humanitarian and natural di-
saster type response applications," Perry said,
"(in) parts of the world where you don't already
have a good map that shows you where you are,
where you need to go, or where you don't have
a GPS device readily available to provide those
latitude longitude coordinates."
"The ability to very quickly and easily com-
municate what three words are needed is a real
operational benefit," Perry said. "That part of it
has been what's impressed us the most. We are
just starting to learn what kind of applications
this enables."
"DURING A DISASTER
you can't use street
addresses, the
landscape may have
completely shifted
because there's been a
flood or an earthquake
or hurricane."
Clare Jones, manager, global
partnerships, what3words