Story ID: 511 Earth-i
Earth-i Helps Farnborough Run Smoothly
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: Unique three-word identifiers are applied to every 3m-square grid on the airfield and airshow site.
Word Count: 248
Guildford, UK-based Earth-i has joined forces with what3words to provide the organizers of the Farnborough International Airshow with an innovative location finder to aid operations. With a simple three-word address of every 3m x 3m square of the airfield and exhibition site, this is used to manage logistics, visitor direction and emergency response efforts. The joint application comes as Earth-i exhibits at the show for the first time in the Space Zone.
  
Using aerial images taken from multiple angles, Earth-i built a highly accurate 3D model of the airshow site. The data was then processed to produce a single, 9-cm resolution plan-form image on which what3words overlaid their unique global 3m2 grid system.
  
The Farnborough operations team is able to react quickly and efficiently to situations, knowing exactly where everything and everyone is. So a team member in the field can simply say “I need backup at friday.visit.look” and others can navigate there easily.
  
Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, commented: “Working closely with what3words to deliver geospatial information solutions, we can tackle real-world problems. It is particularly exciting that we were able to deliver a useful tool to the organizers of Farnborough International.”
  
what3words is a universal addressing system based on a global grid consisting of 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, all pre-allocated a fixed and unique three-word address. The what3words geocoder turns geographic coordinates into these 3 word addresses & vice-versa.