Products that give
Enhanced 9-1-1 Even More
Sections: 9-1-1Plus Pioneers the Newest 9-1-1 Technology Futuristic Crash Notification System in Minnesota |
This article can be found on
page 14 of the May/June 1998
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.
With the advent of Enhanced 9-1-1 some dozen years or so ago, dispatchers were given the ability to locate a 9-1-1 caller through the Automated Location Information displayed on a screen. The address information, retrieved through telephone company databases, gave dispatchers the caller's location, allowing the dispatch of responders even if the call is disconnected or the caller unable to speak. As we approach the next millennium, new products are giving Enhanced 9-1-1 even more power. A number of systems and services have been introduced that provide the 9-1-1 telecommunicator even more information which allows them to send the proper emergency responders to the scene with augmented location details. Here's a quick look at a few of these new products. |
| Photographs: (select thumbnail to view detail image) |
 Dispatcher at Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Berks County PSAP was the first to install 9-1-1Plus, a new enhancement that provides access and medical history data to dispatchers when a subscriber dials 9-1-1. Berks County 9-1-1 |
9-1-1Plus Pioneers
the
Newest 9-1-1 Technology
By Craig S. Breneiser,
Berks County Communications
When Berks County was offered the opportunity to enhance its 9-1-1 call-center technology - at no cost - we jumped at the chance. Even though it meant becoming a beta user, it was a public-private partnership we could not refuse.
Our mandate is to save lives in a population of nearly 360,000 persons residing in 120,000 households throughout 76 municipalities ranging from urban to suburban to rural. Incorporated in 1752, Berks County is located half way between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in southeastern Pennsylvania, and encompasses 864 square miles covering industrial populations to farming communities - a considerable challenge to any emergency response system.
Our dynamic corner of the Keystone State became the nation's first area to take advantage of 9-1-1Plus, a new generation of 9-1-1 service that significantly improves life-saving emergency response procedures. We introduced the system last July in partnership with its developer, LifeSafety Solutions of King of Prussia, PA, which makes the system available to local governments nationwide on the same no-cost basis. In fact, it can even generate revenue for communities acting as its agent.
The advent of 9-1-1 service thirty years ago transformed both the perception and the actual delivery of emergency services by making it easier to call for help. As technology advanced, "Enhanced 9-1-1" provided public-safety answering point (PSAP) personnel with access to a caller's phone number and address by accessing telephone company databases. Yet, in an age when more data can be easily provided, Enhanced 9-1-1 information available to the PSAP has not kept pace with the other traffic on the Information Superhighway.
The initial attraction to 9-1-1Plus was twofold: first, the system contains information we can use to improve emergency response procedures; and second, its installation and maintenance are provided at no cost to county government. Unlike Enhanced 9-1-1, 9-1-1Plus can provide a PSAP with pertinent medical facts on pre-existing conditions, precautions, physical or mental impairment, prescription drugs and devices and foreign language or other important information related to the emergency patient. It also makes a call-taker alert to a TDD/TTY, and expands on location information, including the number of household occupants, ages of children, pets, vanity addresses, unnamed streets or the presence of hazardous materials, oxygen or fuel tanks.
9-1-1 call-takers often experience delays in getting important information from a distraught caller, and such delays can make a life-or-death difference for both the caller and responding public-safety providers. 9-1-1Plus' third-party notification feature is particularly beneficial when harried emergency workers have trouble locating a relative or friend when critical decisions must be made, especially in the case of "latchkey" children or elderly people who live alone.
Our PSAP staff has responded enthusiastically to the new system. "One of the most difficult parts of our job is getting the appropriate information from callers; the information in the 9-1-1Plus database gives me what I need automatically, and that helps me do my job better," according to Telecommunicator Cynthia L. Geiger.
9-1-1Plus is a subscription service, offering several different plans. Some critics have suggested only affluent members of a community can benefit from this new technology, but the cost to a subscriber is generally less than traditional fire and burglar alarm systems and on par with popular telephone add-ons like Caller ID or Call Waiting.
Subscribers determine how much personal information they want to place in the system. When they dial 9-1-1, the data they provide to the 9-1- 1Plus secure database is sent to the PSAP along with the phone number and address information from the telephone company. Telecommunicators relay pertinent information appropriate to the emergency to responding police, fire and emergency medical personnel.
We are especially pleased to enhance our reputation for remaining on the cutting edge of technology by being the first large, multi-jurisdictional communications facility to bring 9-1-1Plus to the public. The new and innovative technology of 9-1-1Plus represents an improvement to emergency services delivery through a government-business partnership environment where everyone comes out a winner.
Craig S. Breneiser, MPA, ENP, is the Director of Communications for Berks County, PA, based at the county seat in Reading. For more information on 911Plus, contact LifeSafetyt Solutions at 888/320-2800 or http://www.911plus.com
Futuristic
Crash Notification System
in Minnesota
by Tom Huyck/Mayo Clinic
A dark rural road. A wrecked car with injured passengers. A frantic passer-by calls 9-1-1 for help, but can't describe the location. Precious minutes pass as lives depend on a quick emergency response.
To address this common problem, an initiative involving the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT), Minnesota State Patrol, Mayo Clinic, and Calspan (an operating division of Veridian Corp.), will develop and test an emergency response infrastructure and crash notification technology. The project - called Mayday Plus - is designed to save lives and reduce disability by helping 9-1-1 and emergency response officials react faster and more efficiently to vehicle crashes.
For a six-month period this Fall, 120 vehicles in southern Minnesota will be equipped with crash sensors, cellular phones and Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment. These devices combine to provide 9-1-1 dispatchers and emergency response officials with a direct, seamless communications link to the vehicle.
Mayday Plus is an extension of equipment developed during federally-funded automatic collision notification (ACN) field tests in New York state. Mayday Plus provides officials with automatic collision notification and a direct voice link to passengers in the car. In addition, it also provides officials with detailed crash data such as direction of impact, crash severity and the vehicle's final resting position. This information is transmitted even if the crash victims are unconscious.
When a car crashes, Mayday Plus in-vehicle equipment is designed to sense the crash and automatically send a call for help via cellular communications. Data, including precise geographic coordinates provided through GPS, is transmitted to the Minnesota State Patrol and Mayo Clinic. Inside the car, a visual display indicates that a call was made to authorities and that the information was received. Meanwhile, 9-1-1 officials are dispatching the appropriate emergency medical crews to the crash location. Dispatchers also are attempting to establish voice communication with the crash victims.
"Rapidly growing cellular telephone use is already placing a heavy burden on emergency response agencies," said Colonel Anne Beers of the Minnesota State Patrol. "The State Patrol answers 650,000 cellular calls annually (an average of 1,780 daily) and the number of cellular 9-1-1 calls has increased 15 to 20 percent each year. We need to find a way to deal with this new information to provide better response, and Mayday Plus could be one answer."
"Developing and implementing a communications infrastructure of this nature could save valuable time for law enforcement and emergency medical dispatchers. If successful, systems like Mayday Plus will allow dispatchers to instantly receive data on crash location and severity, and still allow them to open a voice line to people involved in the crash," Beers says.
Information on Mayday Plus is available on the Internet at: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trim/ats/guidestar/mayday. Contact Ginny Crowson, Mn/DOT, 612/282-2115 or Doug Funke at Calspan, 716/631-6938.
9-1-1 Mapping
Gives Dispatchers
A Clear Picture
by Bob Deaton/Mach 5
" This is Iredell County 9-1-1. How can I help you?"
"I am an operator at Nava-Star Alarm Service who monitors the GMC On-Star Alarm System. I have an alarm from a Cadillac in the Statesville, North Carolina, area. Can you help me?
With these few comments, On-Star was about to be introduced to Mach 5's 21st Century Address Location Systems which has been installed in the Iredell County, North Carolina, ECOM Center for more than two years. A Mach 5 system is a combination of systems developed to position the location of a wireless 9-1-1 caller in the center of a 4.0 square mile area in 5 seconds or less. From this control position the dispatcher can easily direct emergency units to an incident location. Specific latitude/longitude coordinates for a location can be determined for use of air and water responders. While the lat/long system has been used on numerous occasions by air ambulances, the reverse of entering the lat/long through the keyboard to locate a point had only been used in demonstrations. The GPSFIND system was developed to address FCC Wireless 9-1-1 Phase II requirements.
When Iredell County ECOM shift supervisor Tim Warren answered the call from the Nava-Star Alarm Service operator, he very quickly and easily moved the GPSFIND command from a demonstration mode to an active use mode."What information can you provide me?" he asked. The caller noted that "the vehicle appears to be near the cross street of Turnersburg Highway at I-40."
"What other information can you give me," Warren asked. "Or, better yet, do you have a lat/long?" The alarm service operator did, and gave it to Warren, who entered the data on the keyboard into the GPSFIND program. Within 5 seconds he said, "the car is probably in the Wal-Mart parking lot at Crossroads Shopping Center on Crossroads Drive east of Turnersburg Highway." The Statesville Police Department was notified and a unit was dispatched to the area to attempt to locate the vehicle.
While the police were en route, Warren was able to assemble other information and make contact with the car owner by cellular telephone. The incident turned out to be unfounded - the driver had accidentally bumped the On-Star alarm control while loading purchases into his car, and officers were canceled.
Nevertheless, the integration of the On-Star Alarm System with the Mach 5 Address Location System proved to have been a success. On-Star provided a lat/long from the cellular system in the subscriber's vehicle, and a general location was routed to the alarm service operator's screen. The more precise Mach 5 Address Location System took the latitude and longitude provided by On-Star and pinpointed exactly where the vehicle was located. Had this been a true emergency, precious time would have been saved and emergency responders directly to where the vehicle actually was and made contact with the vehicle's occupant.
Wireless 9-1-1 Enhancement
from US West and SCC
by Jim Carroll/US West
Together with SCC Communications, US West Communications has unveiled Cell Trace Plus, a new service that enables dispatch centers to identify a caller's cell phone number and approximate location for immediate emergency assistance.
Cell Trace Plus attaches associated 10-digit telephone numbers and cell-site location information and 9-1-1 calls made from cellular phones. This 10-digit number is sent to the US West customer database where it is used to access vital information about a caller for the fastest emergency response possible. It meets the Phase I requirements of the FCC wireless 9-1-1 mandate, and also establishes a platform for US West to meet the Phase II requirements that become effective in 2001.
"Cell Trace Plus is a major breakthrough in public safety because it gives cellular customers access to Enhanced 9-1-1 features for the very first time," said John Kelley, Vice President and General Manager, US West - Business Enterprise Solutions. The service passes cell site information through the 9-1-1 network to the PSAP. There the information is transmitted to the US West subscriber information database managed by SCC, which includes over 16.5 million 9-1-1 subscriber records. The database's comprehensive records ensure that the data appearing on the dispatcher's screen is complete and accurate.
