Carriers Agree To Start Sharing Vertical Location Data For 911 Calls (xda-developers.com) 23
The three major carriers in the U.S. have now agreed to start providing vertical location data for 911 calls, which will help first responders quickly locate 911 callers in multi-story buildings. XDA Developers reports: The FCC wrote in its announcement, "FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today announced breakthrough agreements with America's three largest mobile phone providers to start delivering vertical location information in connection with 911 calls nationwide in the coming days. This information will help first responders quickly locate 911 callers in multi-story buildings, which will reduce response times and ultimately save lives."
The FCC first announced in 2015 that carriers would be required to start sharing vertical location data. The original deadline was June 2nd, 2021, but AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon wanted an 18-month extension (allegedly due to issues testing the functionality during the COVID-19 pandemic). With the deadline rapidly approaching, the FCC began an investigation in April to find out what was taking carriers so long. All three major carriers have now agreed to start providing vertical location data to 911 call centers within the next seven days, and each company will pay a $100,000 settlement. The agreement also increases the scope of the vertical location data; instead of the data only being provided in select areas, vertical location information will be provided by carriers across the entire United States. However, it will likely take longer than a week for the vertical data to be used in most 9-1-1 call centers, as the change will require updated software and (possibly) additional training for emergency dispatchers.
The FCC first announced in 2015 that carriers would be required to start sharing vertical location data. The original deadline was June 2nd, 2021, but AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon wanted an 18-month extension (allegedly due to issues testing the functionality during the COVID-19 pandemic). With the deadline rapidly approaching, the FCC began an investigation in April to find out what was taking carriers so long. All three major carriers have now agreed to start providing vertical location data to 911 call centers within the next seven days, and each company will pay a $100,000 settlement. The agreement also increases the scope of the vertical location data; instead of the data only being provided in select areas, vertical location information will be provided by carriers across the entire United States. However, it will likely take longer than a week for the vertical data to be used in most 9-1-1 call centers, as the change will require updated software and (possibly) additional training for emergency dispatchers.
Would love to see the error bars on that data (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Would love to see the error bars on that data (Score:5, Informative)
Still likely to be off by a number of floors unless it is calibrated to a nearby airport. One of the things that is adjusted multiple times in a flight is the barometric altimeter.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Certain data gets passed by the phone when it detects that it is sending an emergency call. A move like this is going to require the phone makers to make changes to their firmware.
Full disclosure: I currently work for a company that provides much of the software used in 911 call centers, location data in telcos and adds internal business location data (floor, building, office etc) to outgoing 911 calls.
Re: (Score:3)
Almost all large multifloor buildings rely on DAS units. Basically these are like Wifi points that broadcast the cellular signal and are spread around the building (usually a few per floor). The connect back to the carrier via fiber. The carriers usually offer to install them for free in our buildings because they take loads of traffic off of cell towers. Multistory buildings can house thousands of people so it is a big win to get them off the air.
Height above MSL (Score:3)
However, it will likely take longer than a week for the vertical data to be used in most 9-1-1 call centers, as the change will require updated software and (possibly) additional training for emergency dispatchers.
Updated software is right. Most people think of GPS location as the Lat/Long of the location and forget about the altitude information. Most altitude information is given as altitude above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The first thing the software must do is find the ground level at the location where the call is coming from. In San Francisco some locations are higher than the top floor of a building just 10 blocks away. Then since the average height of a story in a tall building is about 12 feet (4 meters) they will have to be very precise when the try to calculate which floor the call is coming from.
Every call center will need to be updated with very precise topographical mapping software for the area they cover. Unfortunately, the area where the information will be of the most use (middle of a city) is also where the information is the least precise due to reflections and multi-path problems.
--
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
To do that though, they would need the local altimeter setting. And the problem with that is that altimeter settings are not available per-block or per zip code or whatnot. They are provided by the weather station at local airport. And most airports are pretty distant from the city centers where "What floor of the 30-story building are you calling from?" is relevant and useful. San Francisco's airport, for one, is not actually in the city, or even county, of San Francisco. It's way down in San Mateo co
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not so much block-to-block; but by neighborhood, or by transit stop, yes... very much yes. I couldn't even begin to guess the number of times I've hopped on a MUNI or BART train, rode half a mile, and come out to the street in totally different weather... sunny becomes rainy, foggy becomes sunny, calm becomes windy, hot becomes cold or chilly becomes sweltering. At the some times of the year, you can even start *walking* in fog so thick you can't see across the street, walk east for 20 minutes, and be in
Carriers "agreed" to do this (Score:3)
Basically they agreed to do what they were already ordered to do. Sorta like how Private Gomer Pyle "agreed" to scrub the toilet after Sargeant Carter ordered him to do it.
Now they need to (Score:2)
Start sharing vertical location data for robocallers
FCC Report and Order FCC 15-9 (Score:5, Informative)
* All CMRS providers must also meet the following requirements for provision of vertical location information with wireless 911 calls, within the following timeframes measured from the Effective Date:
* Within 3 years: All CMRS providers must make uncompensated barometric data available to PSAPs from any handset that has the capability to deliver barometric sensor data.
* Within 3 years: Nationwide CMRS providers must use an independently administered and transparent test bed process to develop a proposed z-axis accuracy metric, and must submit the proposed metric to the Commission for approval.
Within 6 years: Nationwide CMRS providers must deploy either (1) dispatchable location, or (2) z-axis technology that achieves the Commission-approved z-axis metric, in each of the top 25 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs):
* Where dispatchable location is used: a National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) must be populated with a total number of dispatchable location reference points in the CMA equal to 25 percent of the CMA population. * Where z-axis technology is used: CMRS providers must deploy z-axis technology to cover 80 percent of the CMA population.
Hope this is helpful. I'm stopping now because the last time I wrote a long technically accurate post like this, Slashdot denied it.
Been several years since I downloaded this FCC document, which I think I got from some FCC file repository, but not sure. My copy is a PDF document named FCC-15-9A1.pdf Google will quickly point you to it, if interested.
Bad news for little Timmy stuck in a well. (Score:2)
Training (Score:3)
However, it will likely take longer than a week for the vertical data to be used in most 9-1-1 call centers, as the change will require updated software and (possibly) additional training for emergency dispatchers.
Specifically, the additional training includes a new flowchart: