A postcode is fine for a sat-nav, but it often covers a whole street, field or car park — not much help when a parent is trying to find the right gate at a busy campsite, or the specific entrance to a leisure centre. A what3words address names a precise three-metre square with three words, so everyone lands on the exact spot. You can now add one to any saved location and to an event's meeting point, and parents see it wherever the event appears.
Where to find this
There are two places a what3words can live:
- On a saved location — the reusable places you set up once and pick again for future events. Go to Settings → Locations.
- On an event's meeting point — a one-off spot for a particular trip or activity, set on the event itself in the Where & when card.
Adding a what3words to a saved location
Open Settings → Locations, add or edit a location, and you'll find a what3words field. There are three ways to fill it in:
| How | What to do |
|---|---|
| Paste an address | Type or paste the three words — cried.gains.precautions works, and so does the ///cried.gains.precautions form. |
| Paste a share link | Paste a w3w.co link straight from the what3words app or website — Scoutworks pulls the address out for you. |
| Find on map | Click Find on map, move the map to the right place and drop a pin. Scoutworks turns that point into a what3words address automatically — no need to look it up elsewhere. |
Once saved, the what3words shows on the location so you can reuse it for every event at that place.
Setting a meeting point for a trip
For a one-off meeting spot — a lay-by, a station entrance, a trailhead — open the event and use the meeting-point field in the Where & when card. You can paste an address or share link, or use Find on map to drop a pin, exactly as you would for a saved location. If you've picked a saved location that already has a what3words, it shows there automatically.
What parents see
Parents don't need to do anything. Wherever the event shows up for them — in their event details and on their child's meeting-location card — the what3words appears as a tappable /// link. Tapping it opens the exact square on what3words, so they can follow it straight to the spot on the day.
What's next
- Creating Events — set up the camps, meetings and activities your locations attach to
- Weather Forecasts for Events — another thing a location with a postcode switches on
- Group Settings — where your saved meeting locations are managed
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What's next?
Related guidesCreating Events
How to create camps, programme meetings, and activities in Scoutworks.
Read articleWeather Forecasts for Events
See the forecast for any event right on its page — temperature, rain, wind, UV, sunset and air quality — and have it added to your risk assessment automatically.
Read articleGroup Settings
How to configure your group name, meeting locations, district data sharing, and other group-level settings.
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