Our work making sand drawings and land art often finds us in remote locations – letting our team and others know where we are making our sand art and field paintings can be difficult especially if there was to be an accident or emergency.
We always use the app what3words when planning our beach art and other events, you can download it to your phone and pinpoint any location because they have divided the world up into 3 metre squares, each with a unique identifier made of three random words – a what3words address. This can be handy in lots of situations, whether you are trying to find a spot on a faraway beach for a sand drawing, trying to find your friends at a campsite, caravan park or festival or if you have broken down or had an accident and need to direct emergency services right to your location as quickly as possible.
We were excited when we were approached by what3words to make a sand drawing to launch their #KnowExactlyWhere campaign, which runs from the 26th of July to the 1st of August. Rich, Dunc and Jamie drove down to Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast and Jamie took his drone to capture footage and images of the sand drawing.
The #KnowExactlyWhere summer safety campaign raises awareness of the free what3words app and how it can be effectively utilised in an emergency. The emergency services have joined together with local authorities and organisations from across the UK to encourage the public to download the app as a simple way to save time, resources, and in some cases, lives.
This year more than ever, emergency services across the UK are preparing for an exceptionally busy summer, as restrictions on international travel have resulted in a huge increase in Brits opting to holiday in the UK. Downloading what3words is one of the simplest actions the public can take to support stretched emergency control rooms.
What3word’s app is free to download for both iPhone and Android phones and works entirely offline – making it ideal for use in areas of the UK with an unreliable data connection, such as beaches, national parks and campsites which are incredibly popular during the summer months. what3words can also be used via the online map at what3words.com. The app is available in over 45 languages, including Welsh, and can be used anywhere in the world.
what3words is now used by over 85% of UK emergency services – we were joined on the beach at Mablethorpe to make the 60 x 42 metre sand drawing by representatives of the Lincolnshire emergency services.
Mablethorpe is a very busy holiday destination, it has lots of caravan and camp sites, where it can be hard to find a specific location in an emergency. It’s beaches are perfect for sand drawings but they are also popular with daytrippers and holiday makers who enjoy traditional seaside activities such as sand castle building, paddling, visiting the arcades, strolling along the prom with an ices cream as well as all sorts of watersports – it was a windy day and several kitesurfers were out on the waves. No matter what you get up to on the beach, you never know when you will need the assistance of the emergency services and you may need them fast! With what3words you can clearly communicate your location and get help as quickly as possible.
Sadly this was Rich’s last sand drawing for a while as he is leaving Sand In Your Eye. We wish him the best of luck and will miss him but he is still going to pop in to help us out with our sand drawings, sand and ice sculptures and pumpkin carving. He can always use what3words to find us!
