In Tompkins County, New York, a routine day turned into a life-saving mission when a hiker in distress called 911 from deep inside the dense Connecticut Hill area. The caller’s phone signal barely made it through — a stroke of luck in a region notorious for dead zones. Struggling with a medical emergency, the hiker couldn’t describe their exact location. For the telecommunicators on duty, the challenge was clear: how to find someone fast in miles of rugged forest with only fragments of information.
For John Halaychik, Assistant Director of the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response, the answer was clear:
Within seconds of the call, location data from What3Words automatically appeared in RapidSOS UNITE, pinpointing the caller to a precise three-meter area. Thanks to training and familiarity with the system, both the fire dispatcher on duty and the Newfield Fire Department chief — who is also serving as a dispatch supervisor — quickly recognized the value of the information and used it to guide the response.
Tompkins County presents unique geographic challenges. With Cayuga Lake — the second largest of the Finger Lakes — running through its center, responders often have to detour miles south to loop around. Add in steep gorges, waterfalls, and a web of trails, and finding someone without precise coordinates can mean hours of guesswork.
Before What3Words and RapidSOS, dispatchers relied on vague phase two cell tower hits, often skewed by reflections off the lake, or long rounds of questioning. “You’d play 20 questions: where did you put in, which direction did you travel, what landmarks do you see? And most of the time, people just don’t know,” Halaychik says. “Meanwhile, minutes are slipping away.”
What3Words has changed that equation. By dividing the landscape into a grid of three-meter squares, responders can locate callers with pinpoint accuracy — whether in the woods, on the water, or along a roadside.
The tool has been embraced countywide. “Now, What3Words is on all our county signage at trailheads and boat launches,” Halaychik notes. “It’s on our website, it’s built into our emergency notification system. Everyone here knows how to use it.”
That community-wide adoption has already saved lives. In one early case, a lost hiker was located and walked out of the woods before first responders even arrived. In another, What3Words guided rescuers to a car that had veered off a highway and into dense woods — invisible from the road. In both cases, dispatchers were able to direct teams precisely to the scene, saving critical time and resources.
Beyond speed, there are efficiency gains. By cutting down on the number of units deployed blindly into the field, What3Words helps agencies conserve fuel, equipment, and personnel.
For Halaychik, the lesson is clear: technology only matters if it’s embraced. “We can provide all the data in the world, but if people don’t know how to use it, it doesn’t go anywhere. That’s why we drill into our teams: put What3Words on your phone, practice with it, use it.”
Today, Tompkins County is seen as a model for adoption. Search and rescue teams train regularly with the app, practicing scenarios to ensure they’re ready for real-world calls.
He adds: “If you’d told me in 1989 we’d be here today, I wouldn’t have believed it. Now the question isn’t ‘if’ but ‘when.’ The technology keeps advancing, and we have to keep up — thoughtfully, without burning out our telecommunicators, but always moving forward.”
In Tompkins County, that forward motion has already meant lives saved.
