- What3Words app aids Draper emergency teams by providing precise location coordinates.
- The app assigns unique three-word identifiers to 3 by 3 meter squares globally.
- Local officials praise the app for improving emergency response times and efficiency.
DRAPER — High above Corner Canyon, a bird's eye view reveals seemingly endless miles of bike paths and trails. For two years now, search and rescue teams have been getting to know certain spots on these trails by name. By three names, that is.
"Cornfield, ranches patrol," is the identification given to the space Draper Fire Capt. Kevin Wilkey was standing in. When Wilkey walked just 10 feet down the trail, the What3Words locator app identified a whole new square, with a new set of words.
"It gives a GPS coordinate, but then it ties it to words," explained Wilkey. "And when somebody calls 911, our dispatchers will ask them what the three words are."
That might have been helpful for Lehi High School senior Adam Stewart.
"We didn't know exactly where I was," Stewart recalled.
It was August 2024 when his mountain bike training run came to an abrupt end. A crash sent him over his handlebars and to the emergency room with a broken collarbone.
He recalled members of his Lehi High School mountain bike team being asked by dispatch if they knew their three-word locator.
"If they knew what our three words were, then they could have found the precise location where I was," he said. "And got me help."
Word combinations are assigned to every 3-meter by 3-meter square, on land and sea across the globe, 57 trillion of them. Every square can be connected to you, and to emergency response teams, through the sharing of the identifying three words.
The system provides a single, consistent address for anywhere and everywhere. The London-based company promotes it, saying, "Millions of people around the world use What3Words to make life safer, more efficient and less frustrating."
App users can access data even when offline, able to view the location of any What3Words address you enter. To share a What3Words address over the phone, or in a text message, you need a phone signal.
In Draper, the fire and rescue teams have nothing but good things to say.
"The name of the game for us is speed," Wilkey said. "And anything we can do to reduce the time it takes to respond to the patients ... the better success rate we have."
That was the case for eighth-grader Kenzie Hansen. Kenzie's mom Leslie Hansen claims her daughter is super competitive.
"She was racing to finish, and she really wanted to beat some boys," Leslie Hansen said.
Kenzie, who competes on the development squad at the same high school as Stewart, crashed during a race in Eagle Mountain. Kenzie landed on her helmet, leaving her unconscious, bleeding and having seizures.
"I don't remember anything from the accident," Kenzie said.
Her mother was there, riding just behind Kenzie. And Mom was there when one of Kenzie's coaches shared her location with 911 dispatch, using What3Words.
Paramedics were able to reach the accident scene within 20 minutes.
She felt relief at how quickly first responders were on the way.
"I know that getting to the hospital and then being able to get her on medication, that's probably why she's a lot better off now," Leslie Hansen said.
