In article , NY writes
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.

Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.

I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.

Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-) I wonder when/why the words
changed from the George How Yoke set (as heard in some WWII films) to
the Golf Hotel Yankee ones. Probably to make them less English-centred
for people who speak other languages.
NATO
--
bert

In article , Max
Demian writes
On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.
Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.
I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.
Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.

Then give it S-Sierra.
--
bert

On Thu, 08 Aug 2019 10:42:28 +0100, Andrew wrote:

On 08/08/2019 10:17, Theo wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
Theo wrote:

Sounds like trouble on the phone:
https://what3words.com/unpacked.with.outsmart comes out next to the
Beijing River.

with != width

And https://what3words.com/unpicked.width.outsmart silenty forwards
to:
which is Charing Cross underground station.

unpicked != unpacked

Exactly. And good luck explaining that on the phone in an emergency
situation:

'that's wiv, no wiv wiv a D'

etc.

Theo


Can we invent our own ?.

Where would 'Oil Spiv Farrage' take us ?

Bouvet Island - at least, that is where he should be.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Max Demian Wrote in message:
On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I don?t recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.

Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.

I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.

Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.


They're thinking of a Cortina...
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Thu, 8 Aug 2019 20:51:51 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


In the old days, when the cops pulled you over for speeding,
they asked what you name was. When I told him what my
name was, you could see the little wheels in his head
spinning as he decided whether I was taking the ****.

Trust me, senile Rodent, that was because they SENSED that you were not
right in your head. It's somewhat like most straight people can sense if
someone is gay. In the same way many people can SENSE if someone is not
right in the head, yeah, even over the Internet, you psychopathic senile
asshole!

--
Keema Nam addressing nym-shifting senile Rodent:
"You are now exposed as a liar, as well as an ignorant troll."
"MID: .com"

On Thu, 8 Aug 2019 21:01:37 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


If you call using your mobile, you don¢t
even have to do anything, the system
knows where the phone is even if you
drop dead after making the call and
havent said anything at all.

That's exactly how YOUR end might be like, senile asshole! Or maybe when you
talk to your beloved Alexa and Siri, you clueless, friendless, brainless,
senile pest!

--
Marland revealing the senile sociopath's pathology:
"You have mentioned Alexa in a couple of threads recently, it is not a real
woman you know even if it is the only thing with a Female name that stays
around around while you talk it to it.
Poor sad git who has to resort to Usenet and electronic devices for any
interaction as all real people run a mile to get away from from you boring
them to death."
MID:

On 08/08/2019 12:01, Rod Speed wrote:

"Max Demian" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 07/08/2019 23:37, Rod Speed wrote:
ARW wrote

Could the phone operator not work it out?

They should be able to if you call using your mobile.

I don't think cellphone calls forward GPS coordinates, even if your
phone has GPS.

Yes they do and that is legally mandated.

Can you turn it off?

I suppose you could take a photo of the fire (or whatever) and email
it to them, provided you have turned geotagging on.

But its less clear if the monkey fielding
the call can actually receive that photo.

If you call using your mobile, you dont
even have to do anything, the system
knows where the phone is even if you
drop dead after making the call and
havent said anything at all.

What if your phone doesn't have GPS?

--
Max Demian

Max Demian pretended :
Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the other
end thinks that sierra begins with a C.

999 operators are trained to spell and to understand phonetics.

"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
On 08/08/2019 12:01, Rod Speed wrote:

"Max Demian" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 07/08/2019 23:37, Rod Speed wrote:
ARW wrote

Could the phone operator not work it out?

They should be able to if you call using your mobile.

I don't think cellphone calls forward GPS coordinates, even if your
phone has GPS.

Yes they do and that is legally mandated.

Can you turn it off?

Nope. So you dont do that accidentally.

I suppose you could take a photo of the fire (or whatever) and email it
to them, provided you have turned geotagging on.

But its less clear if the monkey fielding
the call can actually receive that photo.

If you call using your mobile, you dont
even have to do anything, the system
knows where the phone is even if you
drop dead after making the call and
havent said anything at all.

What if your phone doesn't have GPS?

They do it by triangulation from the mobile bases.
Corse at the extreme where the phone can only
be seen by the one base, you're ****ed and will
have to tell the call center monkey where you are.

On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 04:50:18 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


What if your phone doesn't have GPS?

They do it by triangulation from the mobile bases.

What you need is some severe strangulation, you 85-year-old trolling
bigmouth!

--
Richard addressing Rot Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

On 08/08/2019 12:04, Max Demian wrote:
On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.

Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.

I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.

Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.

My father once booked his car on a cross-channel ferry, he clearly told
them Sierra Delta X-ray - only for them to send him a ticket with SDE !

SteveW

On Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 12:30:38 PM UTC+1, bert wrote:
In article , Max
Demian writes
On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.
Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.
I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.
Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.

Then give it S-Sierra.
--
bert

I was once in Halfords to get a roofrack for my car. The 40 year old attendant was looking under S , for a sitreon zx.

On Thu, 8 Aug 2019 07:53:47 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

The thing is I seem to have no issues, but I imagine if its a sparsely
populated area, the place you are talking to may well be well away and
there is no local knowledge.
Somehow hear in London they tell me where I am if I've rung from a mobile of
recent vintage.
Obviously I've only had to do it recently about twice, but I guess some of
the larger call handling centres being not local is the main issue.
Brian

Where you are, phone masts are thick in the air, so easy to
triangulate. The OP is talking about being in the wild.
--
Dave W

On Thu, 8 Aug 2019 07:34:57 +0100, Andy Burns
wrote:

newshound wrote:

[whatthreewords]

when I hit the "current location" button it
drops the pin about half a mile north of me.

This is on a desktop, with no GPS of course. OTOH Google Maps on the
same machine finds the right house.

On my laptop (similarly no GPS) the locate button pops up a permission
dialogue from the browser, if I say "yes" then W3W gets the correct
position, right down to the correct quarter of the house ... but the
laptop and my mobile are both signed-in on the same google account, and
the phone has GPS enabled (also WiFi triangulation works pretty well).

Browser location is useless for me in Surrey because I'm on BT wired
broadband, and my IP address is often in Kent.
--
Dave W

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.

I can remember when it was just amateurs, pilots, police, and travel
agents. Also, to a lesser degree, the twenty-four hour clock.

Of course things can go too far, once a young girl gave me a cryptic
password over the phone, and pronounced "#" as "hashtag"

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On 07/08/2019 23:10, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 7 Aug 2019 21:10:09 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

What three wordsâ seems like a nice idea but I donâ t hold out much
hope of any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

And also relies on you having a useable mobile data connection to
look up the three words for the random bit of burning country side.

I suspect a signal strong enough to make a call will be enough to access
what3words.com

On 08/08/2019 08:16, Brian Reay wrote:
Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! Ive found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that theyve not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal system
of identifying position that doesnt involve street names and house
numbers.

€œWhat three words€� seems like a nice idea but I dont hold out much hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

Dave W wrote:

Browser location is useless for me in Surrey because I'm on BT wired
broadband, and my IP address is often in Kent.

Do you want it to work? If so, do you have an android phone?

Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! I’ve found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that they’ve not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal system
of identifying position that doesn’t involve street names and house
numbers.

“What three words” seems like a nice idea but I don’t hold out much hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......


NGRs seem archaic compared to lat/long in this context. If someone
calls for help they are likely to have access to GPS, not an OS map

I suppose our quaint British NGR is only an algorithm away, but why
complicate things?


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On 08/08/2019 08:16, Brian Reay wrote:
Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! I’ve found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that they’ve not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal system
of identifying position that doesn’t involve street names and house
numbers.

“What three words” seems like a nice idea but I don’t hold out much hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

///monks.adjust.matter is our local tip
///monk.adjust.matter is Powstancow Slaskich, Zernica, Poland

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On 09/08/2019 00:46, Graham. wrote:
On 08/08/2019 08:16, Brian Reay wrote:
Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! Ive found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that theyve not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal system
of identifying position that doesnt involve street names and house
numbers.

€œWhat three words€� seems like a nice idea but I dont hold out much hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

///monks.adjust.matter is our local tip
///monk.adjust.matter is Powstancow Slaskich, Zernica, Poland

So what you are confirming is a small slip is going to be very obvious.

"Graham." wrote in message
...


And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.

I can remember when it was just amateurs, pilots, police, and travel
agents. Also, to a lesser degree, the twenty-four hour clock.

Of course things can go too far, once a young girl gave me a cryptic
password over the phone, and pronounced "#" as "hashtag"

Yeah, I usually call @ snail, quite a few in computing do.

"Fredxx" wrote in message
...
On 07/08/2019 23:10, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 7 Aug 2019 21:10:09 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

What three wordsâ seems like a nice idea but I donâ t hold out much
hope of any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

And also relies on you having a useable mobile data connection to
look up the three words for the random bit of burning country side.

I suspect a signal strong enough to make a call will be enough to access
what3words.com

I have seen a few times when calls were fine but data wasnt working.

"Fredxx" wrote in message
...
On 08/08/2019 08:16, Brian Reay wrote:
Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from
a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! Ive found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that theyve
not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal
system
of identifying position that doesnt involve street names and house
numbers.

€œWhat three words€� seems like a nice idea but I dont hold out much hope
of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is
still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

Pretty ****ed here. When using the browser it uses the isp registered
address.

When using the app, the blue dot jumps around a lot on a very zoomed
in map. Cant see that working well tor technoklutzes in a real emergency.
Makes more sense to just call with the mobile and use the completely
automatic location transmission to 999 etc.

"Graham." wrote in message
...
On 08/08/2019 08:16, Brian Reay wrote:
Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from
a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! I've found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that they've
not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal
system
of identifying position that doesn't involve street names and house
numbers.

"What three words" seems like a nice idea but I don't hold out much
hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

Tim




We have a perfectly good systems in the UK, the OS Grid System and Lat
Long, which you can access from most phones, car sat navs etc and the
Emergency services use, and are far more well known than things like
what3words.

What3words is and amusing toy, especially if you find the words somehow
link to the location but whereas an appropriate OS grid reference is
still
useful, change one word in what3words and .......

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

///monks.adjust.matter is our local tip
///monk.adjust.matter is Powstancow Slaskich, Zernica, Poland

Urk, that's very bad design.

On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 10:27:12 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


I suspect a signal strong enough to make a call will be enough to access
what3words.com

I have seen a few times when calls were fine but data wasn¢t working.

Hahahahaaa! Auto-contradicting senile asshole!

--
Kerr-Mudd,John addressing senile Rot:
"Auto-contradictor Rod is back! (in the KF)"
MID:

On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 10:36:49 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

///monks.adjust.matter is our local tip
///monk.adjust.matter is Powstancow Slaskich, Zernica, Poland

Urk, that's very bad design.

We all know you can design it better, senile designer of a computer Os! BG

--
Senile Rodent about himself:
"I was involved in the design of a computer OS"
MID:

On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 10:34:59 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


It is no toy, unless you're a child. It's an easy, effective way to
provide a location within 10m.

Change one number or letter in an OS grid...........

Pretty ****ed here.

Nobody talked about you, senile asshole!

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 85-year-old trolling senile
cretin from Oz:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On Fri, 9 Aug 2019 10:23:52 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


I can remember when it was just amateurs, pilots, police, and travel
agents. Also, to a lesser degree, the twenty-four hour clock.

Of course things can go too far, once a young girl gave me a cryptic
password over the phone, and pronounced "#" as "hashtag"

Yeah, I usually call @ snail, quite a few in computing do.

Do you? But NOBODY in real life talks to you, you lying piece of senile
****! It's the very reason why you get up EVERY NIGHT between 1 and 4 am,
just so you can pester people on Usenet with your obnoxious presence.

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 85-year-old trolling senile
cretin from Oz:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On Wednesday, 7 August 2019 22:10:13 UTC+1, Tim+ wrote:
ARW wrote:
Basically between two villages. No houses, no pubs nothing (apart from a
field on fire).

You know the names of the villages and that is all.

Could the phone operator not work it out?


Optimist! Ive found trying to give positions to emergency services an
incredibly frustrating experience. The main problem being that theyve not
heard of the internet and search engines. Also, it takes an age to get
through to anyone who can understand grid references or any normal system
of identifying position that doesnt involve street names and house
numbers.

€œWhat three words€� seems like a nice idea but I dont hold out much hope of
any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

The problem is that you usually end up talking to someone that is not local and doesn't know where anything is.
You can only tell them the road number if you know it.

If it's a fire, there's usually smoke to guide. Anything else is a problem.

Google earth has got to be the best way to find a street name.

I used to drive a minibus and on one journey taking people home one lady on the bus looked very unwell. I phoned the emergency services and said I was on the A321 between Twyford, Berkshire
and Wokingham just south of a road called Broad Hinton. I thought this was fairly clear.
But then the operator asked where Twyford was and where Wokingham was. So I ended up having to say that Twyford was about halfway between Reading and Maidenhead and then the same thing for Wokingham. And all the time my passenger was looking more and more distressed.
Can't say I was very impressed at all with the call handling aspect. Once the ambulance services arrived they were of course excellent.

Lawrie

Lawrie Davidson wrote:
I used to drive a minibus and on one journey taking people home one lady
on the bus looked very unwell. I phoned the emergency services and said I
was on the A321 between Twyford, Berkshire
and Wokingham just south of a road called Broad Hinton. I thought this was fairly clear.
But then the operator asked where Twyford was and where Wokingham was. So
I ended up having to say that Twyford was about halfway between Reading
and Maidenhead and then the same thing for Wokingham. And all the time my
passenger was looking more and more distressed.
Can't say I was very impressed at all with the call handling aspect. Once
the ambulance services arrived they were of course excellent.

Lawrie


Matches my experience. There seems to be a complete inability to look
anything up on any sort of online mapping facility.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

In article ,
misterroy writes
On Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 12:30:38 PM UTC+1, bert wrote:
In article , Max
Demian writes
On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal
call centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever
having anyone not understand what I meant.
Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.
I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them
for the flying and amateur radio licenses.
Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.

Then give it S-Sierra.
--
bert

I was once in Halfords to get a roofrack for my car. The 40 year old
attendant was looking under S , for a sitreon zx.
ROTFL
--
bert

On 09/08/2019 00:04, Fredxx wrote:
On 07/08/2019 23:10, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 7 Aug 2019 21:10:09 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

What three wordsâÂ*Â* seems like a nice idea but I donâÂ* t hold out much
hope of any operator understanding the idea.
https://what3words.com/daring.lion.race

And also relies on you having a useable mobile data connection to
look up the three words for the random bit of burning country side.

I suspect a signal strong enough to make a call will be enough to access
what3words.com

You might want to keep mobile data turned off. (Mine costs £2 a day to
turn it on.)

--
Max Demian

On Wed, 7 Aug 2019 22:27:22 +0100, ARW
wrote:




Field on fire next to the road between Branton and Auckley?

I spent 30 years in fire service communications and would have no
difficulty with that. Inputting locations using grid references was
never considered for the two systems I was involved with and I suspect
that the cost of putting in place a system that could accept them
would have been expensive and rarely used.

Peter Johnson used his keyboard to write :
I spent 30 years in fire service communications and would have no
difficulty with that. Inputting locations using grid references was
never considered for the two systems I was involved with and I suspect
that the cost of putting in place a system that could accept them
would have been expensive and rarely used.

A paper OS map would have been comparatively cheap and shows much more
detail than Google does.

In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Peter Johnson used his keyboard to write :
I spent 30 years in fire service communications and would have no
difficulty with that. Inputting locations using grid references was
never considered for the two systems I was involved with and I suspect
that the cost of putting in place a system that could accept them
would have been expensive and rarely used.

A paper OS map would have been comparatively cheap and shows much more
detail than Google does.

and how many would you need to access and how long would a paper map last?

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Peter Johnson used his keyboard to write :
I spent 30 years in fire service communications and would have no
difficulty with that. Inputting locations using grid references was
never considered for the two systems I was involved with and I suspect
that the cost of putting in place a system that could accept them
would have been expensive and rarely used.

So how were locations outside a built-up area identified? When did people
begin to use postcodes as a means of identifying a place on a map in
addition to a postal delivery address. "Between Town 1 and Town 2" could be
a long stretch of road, and it would be difficult to identify even if
someone read distances off a road sign "Town 1 = 10 miles, Town 2 = 4 miles"
if there were very twisty roads.


A paper OS map would have been comparatively cheap and shows much more
detail than Google does.

and how many would you need to access and how long would a paper map last?

Given that we're talking about Google maps, we're in the era of online OS
maps as well.

Even before that, I'd expect an emergency control room to have all the paper
OS maps, maybe unfolded, laminated and mounted on boards for extra
durability, for the area that they cover. (*)

I wouldn't regard Google maps as being up to the job of identifying
locations given over the phone, because they lack landmarks such as
churches, rivers/streams, woodland etc which people might use when
specifying a location ("It's near Anytown church, on the road that goes to
Anyvillage, just before you get to the stream. Also, Google maps don't have
OS grid references printed on them and the search doesn't understand grid
references.

Nowadays I'd expect emergency operators to be able to process all location
formats: OS grid ref (both all-numeric, and with initial two letter to
define the 100x100 km square), lat/long (DDMMSS and DDMM.MMM), postcodes.
And maybe things like Three Little Words. And then they should to display
that location on an OS map at a suitable scale (1:50,000 and 1:25,000, and
maybe 1:10,000 and larger scale in towns, to identify buildings as in "it's
near Jones the Butchers").


(*) I remember even in the early 1970s my dad bought several unfolded OS
maps of the area where we lived, and he cut them so they joined, and mounted
them on a large sheet of chipboard on the wall of his office at home. Not
sure why, because he didn't need them for his job, so maybe it was more for
interest.

On 09/08/2019 16:15, NY wrote:

Even before that, I'd expect an emergency control room to have all the
paper OS maps, maybe unfolded, laminated and mounted on boards for extra
durability, for the area that they cover. (*)


I suggest it is mobile phones which cause many of the problems. Before
they came along the location of the landline was known to the 999
operator who could pass it on the the services, and most callers would
have been able to say what they had done to get /to/ the phone from
which the services could work back.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On Thu, 08 Aug 2019 12:04:12 +0100, Max Demian wrote:

On 08/08/2019 10:59, NY wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

On a previous occasion I had to give my postcode, and the operator
had difficulty understanding the radio phonetic alphabet, which was
an even worse deficiency of training.

Not just training. I use it routinely when talking to normal call
centers for internet services etc and I dont recall ever having
anyone not understand what I meant.

Yes I commonly use it for spelling out easily-confused words (eg our
house is called Pump Cottage, not Hump Cottage as someone wrote!) and
for postcodes where an error in a letter can either make an invalid
postcode or else one that points to somewhere else. Most call centres
now seem to be able to understand them; my experiences with the 999
operators were some 10 years ago so they may have improved now.

I remember once being stopped by the police for some minor offence -
maybe a brake light bulb that had failed - and being asked my address
which I gave them, spelling out the postcode phonetically. The police
officer looked as if he thought I was taking the **** by using "the
police's" phonetic alphabet to him ;-)

And I use the proper names having leant them for the flying and
amateur radio licenses.

Yes, my pet hate is people using their own words to represent the
letters instead of the standard ones ;-)

P for pterodactyl; C for ctenophore; A for aisle.

Most people don't know the official ones, and sometimes the person the
other end thinks that sierra begins with a C.


A for 'orses
B for mutton
C for th highlanders
D for ential
E for sigh
F for vescent
.........
Y for husband
Z for breezes


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

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