IPhone Enhances 911 Location Availability, in Move Boosters Say Will Help NG-911

Apple will use RapidSOS’ IP-based data pipeline to securely share Apple’s hybridized emergency location (HELO) data, which determines position based on cell towers and on-device sources including GPS and Wi-Fi, the iPhone maker said Monday. The information is sent immediately after someone calls 911 and updated continuously during and for some time after the caller hangs up, Apple said. It will exceed the FCC 2021 requirement that carriers locate callers within 50 meters at least 80 percent of the time, it said. It's different from Advanced Mobile Location (AML), a European standard supported by Android and Apple devices in other countries, which is for location in regions without a carrier delivery mechanism, Apple said. The new iOS, supporting iPhone 5S and later, will be available as a software update this fall.

"This development is a huge deal for 911 call centers," emailed National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) Executive Director Evelyn Bailey. "They can benefit from this supplemental location information with or without NG911." The IP-based network by itself "isn't ever going to improve wireless call location -- those improvements must come from the carriers and innovators like RapidSOS and their device and technology partners," she said: NASNA is vendor-neutral but is "pleased that these technology and device providers are working aggressively to improve caller location in the spirit of the FCC's rules."

Other smartphone makers should follow Apple's lead in the U.S., said Communications Director Bob Finney of the Collier County Sheriff's Office, Florida. As cellphones became ubiquitous, public safety’s ability to find 911 callers diminished, he said. The RapidSOS technology, tested by the county, will provide nearly instant location information, compared with a delay of about 30 seconds for location information provided by wireless carriers, Finney said. It provides more accurate data but will come into the center through existing equipment, he said. Carrier-provided data sometimes is based on GPS but other times on tower triangulation that’s less precise, especially in remote areas where triangulation can sometimes be a mile off, Finney said. The carrier data is even less accurate indoors, he said. Problems with location data are separate from the need to upgrade 911 networks to IP-based next-generation 911, Finney said. “Even if the funding [for NG-911] were available and … all 6,000 911 centers across the country could turn up IP networks,” it wouldn’t make carrier’s legacy location data more precise, he said.

Google has Emergency Location Services (ELS) that are based on AML and similarly send enhanced location directly from Android handsets to emergency services when a call is placed, a spokesperson said. Android ELS works on devices running at least V 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in 15 countries not including the U.S. Google conducted two pilots for the U.S., including one test with RapidSOS and another with West Safety Services.

911 operators in the U.S. handle 240 million emergency calls a year but have relied on 1960s legacy infrastructure, said former FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick. “I really expect this system to transform public safety and to be adopted widely,” he said. “RapidSOS previously announced deals with Uber and Microsoft and a pilot with Google.”

The change is comparable to moving from the flip phone to the smartphone, said ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Carriers have been wedded to their network infrastructure to provide location on 911 calls, he said. Carriers “were well-intentioned and when that was the only game in town, it had to be sufficient,” he said. "Now, digital technology and the ability to look at multiple inputs means there can be greater granularity.”

Patrick, Wheeler and ex-FirstNet President TJ Kennedy are among well-known advisers to RapidSOS, which earlier announced a pilot with Uber (see 1804120008).

Meanwhile, the Virginia 911 Services Board OK'd an AT&T ESInet to provide NG-911 communications, AT&T announced Friday. It will allow Virginia localities to manage call and text-message routing, better deal with surges in call volume and later support pictures and videos.