When it comes to finding a specific location, GPS is incredible, but let’s face it – nobody is exchanging coordinates.

An app called what3words is trying to make finding people and places, as well as meeting up – simple, fast and easy.

Plus, it works even without a signal.

The app recently teamed up with BMO Stadium in Los Angeles – home of the Los Angeles Football Club – to publish specific what3words addresses for key locations such as gates, the team store, concession stands, and the box office.

“It’s human nature not to pay attention to signs necessarily,” said Christian Lau, the stadium’s Chief Technology officer. “Having a tech solution for a younger demographic that they can use, they’re familiar with it, it just makes everything easier to get in and around the venue.”

What3words divides the world into 10×10 foot squares and has given each one a unique but memorable three-world name.

“GPS coordinates are kind of confusing and complicated. I mean nobody really in everyday life does that. So the idea of what3words is just to make a big load of numbers super simple, like as easy as just saying something like table, chair, spoon and you refer to one point in the world somewhere,” said Chris Sheldrick, co-founder of what3words.

I’ve been using the app since I learned about its application for search and rescue missions. What I like about it is how specific it can get.

Instead of a general address that takes you to a main entrance or a dropped PIN that doesn’t work well across platforms, what3words can direct you to a super specific spot anywhere in the world, and it works without a signal in Compass mode.

To test it out, Lau went somewhere in the stadium and then sent me the words of where he went. I walked to him, following the compass direction on my phone to find him. It even told me how close I was in feet.

“Wo imagine when you are in an environment like Coachella, where there’s thousands of people just everywhere, you can literally use the compass feature to get to the person you’re trying to find within a ten foot square,” said Lau.

What3words is partnering with various organizations and companies to make its tech more widely accepted. They are working with car makers to let drivers use the words to navigate, as well as police, 911, and fire departments to allow those who need help to just say the three words where they are located.

You can download what3words for free on iOS and Android.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is asking for the public’s help in locating a 16-year-old girl who disappeared from her Rancho Cucamonga home earlier this month.  

Ebonie “Bella” Maxwell was last seen on April 11, according to a NCMEC missing child bulletin. 

Felicia Maxwell, Bella’s mother, said that she and her daughter had spent the morning making smoothies and that the teen left for a walk at around 10:30 a.m. 

“She was last seen at a nearby park soon after leaving, but the teen never returned home,” the bulletin stated.  

Family members said that Bella’s disappearance is extremely out of character for her, raising serious concerns about her safety and well-being.  

The 16-year-old is described as 5 foot 3 inches tall, weighing around 100 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.  

“My sweet ‘baby girl’ Bella, you are loved, cared for, needed and wanted by all of your family and friends,” her mother said in a message released by NCMEC. “We are missing you and praying for your safety and just desperately want you to return to us.”

Authorities believe that Bella may not have left the local area and could be in either Los Angeles or Riverside counties.  

Anyone with information on her whereabouts or disappearance is urged to contact NCMEC at 800-843-5678 or the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department at 909-387-8313.  

At 81, Jim Michaelian’s need for speed is showing no signs of…well, slowing down.

Michaelian, a notable member of Southern California’s Armenian community, is credited with helping bring open-wheel racing to Long Beach in what is now the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“I have always had a passion for speed, even as a youngster,” Michaelian, who grew up in Boyle Heights, told KTLA. “I got some hot rods and was driving around Southern California [and] got my fair share of tickets.”

The race got its start in the 1970s.

“A gentleman by the name of Chris Pook came up with the idea of running a street race in the city of Long Beach because the city was anxious to change its image because, at the time, it was a Navy city,” Michaelian recalls.

In 1975, the city gave them the green light to run their first Formula 5000 race, which turned out to be the first street course race in the U.S.

The race’s pivotal moment came in 1977 when racing legend Mario Andretti took home the checkered flag.

Michaelian is now the President and CEO of the Long Beach Grand Prix and still enjoys getting behind the wheel for a few laps.

“I’ve had a couple of accidents, one where I literally went upside down in Daytona. But I’ve managed to survive so far. Hopefully I’ll get a few more years of racing in before they say you don’t qualify for a license anymore,” he says.