Location Managers Guild International

Summer 2018

The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ

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28 • LMGI COMPASS | Summer 2018 Changing World Navigation Three Words at a Time TECH TALK BY ANGUS LEDGERWOOD Where is the location? I'm lost! Which tree did you say we were filming? Oh, I didn't read the movement order I just asked Siri! When a crew member says they only looked at the postcode. The call at 4 a.m. from the lost performer who googled the building name and ended up at the opposite side of town. The tech truck that arrived at the wrong entrance because they didn't print the map page. Or that unsurprisingly, the beau- tiful cliff-edge location that took you days to scout, simply has no address. Every location manager in every country across the world has heard it a hundred times—the moment you real- ize your painstaking efforts at mapmaking are blatantly ignored, yet it's still somehow your fault! Is there a simple solution to these bugbears that plague our profession on a daily ba- sis? The answer is thrillingly, YES! There is an answer and it is three words. what3words offers a way of coordinating the production circus that little bit more accurately. Through- out the world, we encounter issues with local addressing systems that are either inac- curate, outdated by current development or cover areas that are too large to simply provide one address. what3words is a mobile ap- plication and software that breaks the planet down into three-by-three meter squares, assigning a unique combina- tion of three words to each square. These three words allow for a simple and incred- ibly accurate way of sharing location details to anyone in the world. It's an ingenious way of break- ing down the world into small manageable squares that are as accurate as a six-figure grid reference and much more memorable than a full address. Using an algorithm that utilizes more than 40,000 words to create 64 trillion different combinations, the world's 57 trillion three-by-three meter squares can each individually be assigned its unique three- word combination. Thus, taking away the necessity of relying on potentially faulty traditional addressing systems in Second and Third World countries that a location manager might find themselves operating in. The best example of how the applications algorithm has been successfully applied is Mongolia, the 19th-largest country in the world. In 2016, Mongolia implemented what- 3words to systemize a no- madic population of 2.8 million people over a land mass of 965,000 square kilometres (600,000 square miles) and a road system that does not follow the structure of de- veloped countries. A simple grid-addressing system is the way forward, the system has simplified the most basic of daily processes such as open- ing a bank account or ordering pizza. The free map tool at map.what3words.com lets you discover and share three- word addresses quickly and easily. The free app for iOS and Android puts all the use- ful map features in a handy package for smartphones, including tagging your photos. The Online API is a few lines of code that can add three- word address functionality to your existing app, map or site. The Mobile SDK package provides the same service as the API but it can be installed on a smart device and works entirely offline. what3words also has a tool that offers conversion from coordinates to three-word addresses and vice versa. You can send a three- word address to anyone even if the receiving user doesn't have the app—they can still access your location via their computer, tablet or smart- phone browser. You can use a browser on your computer, tab- let or smartphone to discover, input & share a three-word ad- dress. The what3words app has many nice features, but it's not essential as you can always use the what3words website. Closer to home, here's how it can work for you. Finding the impossible, perfect location is one of the best feelings you can have as a location manager. That euphoria quickly dissipates when the location is difficult to service and awkward to navigate a crew to. Elation is replaced by anxiety. By using three simple words, you can solve all manner of navigational issues that can arise anywhere in the world. To demonstrate, download the app (scan the QR Code with your smartphone to go directly to the company app page) and enter the following three words, selling.yummy.party. This will take you to Bentwaters Parks in the United Kingdom. This is a now disused airfield with multiple hangars, landing strips, bomb stores, forests and pig farms. This is a maze of possible sets, however, none of these areas are addressed through the use of what3words. It is simple to direct a crew to 'The Musketeers buildings' (bonus. imitate.baroness), 'Bomb Stor- age Bunker 5' melons.onions. reclaimed), 'Jet Bay 6' (gree.

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