May 6, 2004
Route to rescue
Minutes are being cut from response times because of technology that allows crews to pinpoint the location of the distress call, writes Justin Hunt for The Guardian.
"In an emergency situation, it can be difficult for a mobile phone caller to explain where he is and where an accident has occurred. Callers can panic and fail to supply the information the emergency service urgently requires.
In London, it is no longer necessary for ambulances to rely solely on a mobile caller's local knowledge. The LAS has become the first emergency service in the UK to be able to pinpoint the location of 999 calls from a mobile phone. It can now deploy vehicles far more quickly.
How it works
A geographic information system is being used in the control room to plot the location of all mobile callers and identify the best vehicle to respond. Each of the LAS's 450 emergency response vehicles are being fitted with a mobile data terminal, which has a mapping system that shows the crew exactly where it is in relation to where the caller is. The mapping solution is linked to a satellite navigation system that gives the crew directions to the destination".
Raising privacy issues
"As government agencies latch on to the potential of these applications, however, they could run into more contentious areas. Jason Chapman, principal mobile analyst for Gartner says there could be situations where citizens might be less willing to let public sector organisations know exactly where they are using their mobiles. A person, for example, could be at work when they are officially meant to be off sick".
While the potential benefits for emergency services of tailored mobile location technologies are not in dispute, such applications could raise complex civil liberty issues".
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