Help is at hand, through 57 trillion squares

JOSEPH Moloisane is 73 and sometimes needs medical care urgently at his home in the rural settlement of KwaNdengezi near Durban.

The problem for healthcare service providers, however, is finding his house among the maze of streets.

Elderly people like Moloisane are not the only ones at risk. Women have died during childbirth because medics just could not find them.

Now, thanks to a collaboration between the Gateway Health Institute and what3words, Moloisane and hundreds of residents in KwaNdengezi can be reached. Once the addresses are registered, new software can guide medical and other essential service providers to their homes.

“In the rural areas there are no street names and it becomes difficult to locate a person,” said Moloisane.

“An ambulance could take an hour looking for a place, and a pregnant woman would end up giving birth on the street, or an injured person could die for not getting help.”

With what3words, residents can easily be found.

Chris Sheldrick, a London technology entrepreneur, developed the what3words app that assigns a sequence of three simple words to any location in the world.

It has divided the world into a grid of 57 trillion 3mx3m squares. Each square has been assigned a fixed and unique three-word address.

“We have gone through the whole world and named all of these unique squares. So where you live, we will name your front door with three words, your back door with three words.

“The app gives you a chance to find your three words,” said Sheldrick.

Sheldrick worked in the music business for 10 years, booking bands and managing production for events around the globe, and became frustrated when suppliers could not find site entrances, or bands could not find their way from hotels to gigs. TRACKED: Joseph Moloisane

For years he tried distributing addresses and GPS co-ordinates, but both failed.

He was certain there was a better way and that was how what3words was born.

“We have been working around the world with a lot of organisations in 173 countries. We work with businesses and organisations to get more and more people using the system. We’re now working with the postal services in Mongolia, Ivory Coast, Djibouti and Congo,” he said.

Gateway Health has helped residents of the 14km² KwaNdengezi to identify

Its impact on people’s lives is remarkably rewarding

their addresses.

With the help of 11 local field workers, residents used tablets and satellite imagery to identify the location of their homes.

They could then print their three-word addresses on plastic signs to hang on their doors. Now residents can give these addresses when they need help.

“For those living in informal settlements and rural areas, location presents the biggest challenge in providing health services and products,” said Coenie Louw, founder and director of the institute.

Sheldrick hailed the project in KwaNdengezi as “very successful. Its impact on people’s lives is remarkably rewarding.”