9–1–1 caller location solutions
“Is there any mail lying around**” How would you like to know that Public Service Answering Points(PSAPs) have no idea where a cell phone 9–1–1 caller is much of the time and may rely on the caller to find postal mail that is lying around to read a postal/street address, before sending anyone to help.
Why cannot a 9–1–1 caller be responsible for knowing their location or assist with finding it? There is a grand assumption that PSAPs automatically know caller location. They always did and still do for landline phones; not true for cell phones which are quickly replacing landlines nationwide. The alleged automatic tracking of cell phones in an active 9–1–1 call takes time and may have to be initiated more than once. It could take 60 seconds or more and still be wrong by miles, as has been proven by others. A solution called Laaser is described at the bottom of this article too.
What can be done right now, today, this minute? The general solution promoted here is for the PSAP call taker to ask the caller that does not know location sufficiently to open a simple webpage on the smart phone (assumed). That web page will display the 9–1–1 caller geo-location with an accuracy value.
Option 1: FindMeSAR.com The site opens quickly for new users and once loaded will function without internet connectivity. This is rare for a website to function in a browser without internet, but it does and that is the advantage to the user.
Option 2: USNGAPP.org. This is the original and has been described in detail already. See this article: https://medium.com/@USNGFlorida/9-1-1-cell-phone-callers-can-provide-location-231c01a648f8#.3nuvkzilm It will not be further mentioned in this article.
FindMeSAR.com
Courtesy of MappingSupport.com FindMeSAR.com will first open onto a blue screen that shows the national standard coordinate system US National Grid. The caller can read the coordinates and the accuracy value to the PSAP call taker. The PSAP call taker should be able to plot these coordinates in seconds via their Computer Aided Dispatch software, other vendor software or free webtools such as GMap4 or Mission Manager.
As the PSAP call taker, at their option, can ask the caller to switch to other coordinate formats if US National Grid is not yet primary within their PSAP.
The options of UTM and Latitude & Longitude follow; all the user has to do is depress the upper left button [Next format]. The color coding is intentional, the PSAP can refer to the screen of their choice by color.
Finally, for this example, where is this location? Using GMap4 and Mission Manager, here are the map plots:
GMap4: https://mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?usng=17R_NM_1749_4748&tilt=off&z=18&t=s
Mission Manager: http://missionmanager.net/Maps.php?location=17R%20NM%2017490%2047480&zoom=15&layer=Google%20Streets&coords=2&grid=true
The location is not at a street/postal address. For your information the location is Port St. John Parkway at I-95 (Exit 208), Brevard County, Florida. Per the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) 33% of all incidents are not at a street address anyway. So, all geo-location solutions need to account for this and provide coordinates. To rely on street address alone is a plan to fail.
LaaSer
http://www.laaser911.com/ is an embedded solution to the 9–1–1 caller geo-location problem. It requires an update to cell phones and it requires changes to the 9–1–1 system. It absolutely will work. However, it is not yet available and in the interim, FindMeSAR.com is promoted as a stopgap solution that works today!
Notes:
- ** The “mail lying around” concept occurred recently during the 9–1–1 call reporting singer Prince’s death and was nationally publicized.
- Smart phones must have GPS ON for FindMeSAR.com or any GPS app to work properly.
- It is understood that some 9–1–1 callers will be unfamiliar with their phones and/or too stressed and will not be able to complete the opening of any website during the call. However, many callers, especially those not directly involved in the reason for the 9–1–1 call will absolutely be able to do it.
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Auxiliary Information: The following are screen shots from other smart phone applications taken at the same spot as the example above.
In summary, tools are out there to solve most problems. Are you prepared as a possible 9–1–1 caller to report your location right now, or as a PSAP call taker with a need to find a caller quickly?
See other articles at: https://medium.com/@USNGFlorida
or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/USNGFlorida
A map without a grid is just a picture; a gridded map is a tool !
