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February 4, 2010
(Red Deer, Alberta) – On December 16, 2009 the 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatchers for The City of Red Deer had a new system to assist cellular callers. This was a result of the wireless industry and the 9-1-1 community working together over the last year to provide more precise location identification information for Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) service for cell phone users. This new technology provides the approximate location of the mobile handset but does not provide an exact pinpoint location. Before, The City of Red Deer was only able to track a caller by the cell tower the caller was using.
“We'll be able to locate where a cellphone call came from to an area within 10 metres, this is a significant step forward in the safety of all Central Alberta cellphone users whose municipalities contract The City of Red Deer to provide their 9-1-1 call answer service.
"Over 50 per cent of the calls received in our 9-1-1 centre are wireless,” said Mark Boothby, Project Lead. “This trend will only continue to grow, so the ability to locate cell phone callers accurately is vital.”
The new system will measure the distance between the cellphone and a number of towers, then calculate a GPS location. As is the case in most emergency situations, time is of great value, and with this new system in place, finding the location of the caller may now be easier and faster.
The City of Red Deer 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Centre also took the opportunity to implement a new region wide mapping system that will automatically map and show the location of all 9-1-1 calls when they are received. The mapping system is for 9-1-1 calls originating by either cellular or landline phone and for anywhere in Central Alberta they provide 9-1-1 call answer services for.
Last year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordered improvements by February 2010 to the way cellphones connect to the 9-1-1 system. The CRTC ruled all 9-1-1 centers must be able to receive latitude, longitude.
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For more information, please contact:
Bart Rowland Mark Boothby
Deputy Fire Chief I.T. Analyst and Project Lead
9-1-1 Emergency Communications The City of Red Deer
The City of Red Deer 403-342-8266
403-356-2454
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