Case Study: Patronus achieves faster, error-free emergency location for skiers with what3words

3 words to keep skiers safe with Patronus

Patronus is a safety app that routes emergency calls to the fastest available responder, including 911 and local teams like ski patrol. The challenge was quickly and accurately conveying a caller’s location in high-stress situations and in places without conventional addresses—where GPS coordinates or cell-tower fixes can be slow, error-prone, or hard to communicate.

Patronus integrated what3words—a global system that assigns unique, easy-to-say three-word addresses to 3×3 m squares—so a caller’s location is captured and announced to dispatchers before connection. In trials at Homewood Ski Resort, calls go straight to ski patrol with a three-word address, enabling faster, clearer navigation to incidents and reducing errors from miscommunicated coordinates.

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