Apple to Push Fix for Locating 911 Callers
June 18 2018 - 4:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Krouse
Apple Inc. is partnering with a startup to tackle a problem that
has long vexed 911 operators: locating cellphone callers.
Most 911 calls are made using mobile phones, but those callers'
locations are harder to pinpoint than those of calls made using
traditional landlines -- a problem that can delay first
responders.
RapidSOS, an upstart backed by three former Federal
Communications Commision leaders, aimed to solve that problem. It
created technology that pipes location information from smartphones
and other internet-connected devices directly into the software
used within 911 call centers.
Apple's new partnership with RapidSOS means iPhone users who
call 911 will automatically send their location to emergency call
centers, representatives for the companies said. Apple plans to
push the new software to iPhones later this year as part of an
update to its iOS mobile software, the company said.
Apple's move is a sign that smartphone makers are willing to
step into America's emergency response infrastructure, an area ripe
for upgrades as well as reputational risks because lives are at
stake.
In the past, convincing handset makers to update their products
so that dialing 911 would automatically send location data, rather
than requiring users to download an app, was a challenge.
The set of location data Apple sends through RapidSOS will be
separate from the information that wireless carriers like AT&T
Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. send.
Carriers are required to deliver the whereabouts of callers to
911 operators, but the estimated locations they provide can be as
wide as a few hundred yards. Their information is typically less
accurate than the blue dot consumers see on apps like Uber and
Google Maps and can be obscured by buildings and in dense
areas.
Federal regulators estimate that shaving a minute off response
times could save as many 10,000 lives a year.
Apple isn't the only smartphone maker testing caller-location
solutions. Google late last year began testing new technology for
sending location data from Android devices to 911 centers. The
company worked with RapidSOS and West Corp., which also has
connections to 911 call centers.
Google's data in that test offered an average location-estimate
radius of 121 feet, while carrier data averaged 522 feet, RapidSOS
told The Journal earlier this year.
The RapidSOS technology is active in less than half of 911
centers nationwide, but is available to all of them at no charge.
The company said it expects it to be used in the majority of 911
call centers nationwide by the end of the year.
The 50-year-old U.S. 911 system is rooted in aging landline
systems that deliver an exact address. Those phones, however, have
been eclipsed by the growth of cellphones.
Wireless devices make about 80% of the roughly 240 million 911
calls placed in the U.S. each year, according to the trade group
National Emergency Number Association.
Wireless carriers primarily use GPS chips in phones and
cell-tower triangulation to send location data to 911 call centers
across the country.
The wireless industry trade group CTIA is part of an initiative
to build a database of locations of WiFi hotspots and bluetooth
beacons to better locate nearby cellphones. The ongoing effort,
called the National Emergency Address Database, involves
partnerships with cable companies, businesses and government
agencies.
Christy Williams, director of 911 for the North Central Texas
Council of Governments, said citizens expect location accuracy when
they make emergency calls because they see it every day on their
phones and applications. RapidSOS and the Apple partnership is
"finally getting us to a point where we could potentially meet some
of the citizens' expectations," she added.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 18, 2018 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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