July 14, 2008
King County chosen to demo next generation 9-1-1
US Department of Transportation to display system Tuesday
King County is one of five communities nationwide that has been chosen as a test site for a Next Generation 9-1-1 Initiative by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Officials from the agency will join Executive Ron Sims to discuss the initiative and demonstrate their Proof of Concept technology tomorrow.
Media are invited for the press conference and demonstration, which will take place:
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
King County International Airport
7300 Perimeter Road South, Room 120, Seattle
The existing 9-1-1 system was designed for voice calls from landline phones, and cannot be expanded to take calls for help from modern communications devices and applications such as broadband phones, text messages from the deaf and hearing impaired, and pictures and videos from cell phones.
King County has been actively working to upgrade its 9‑1‑1 system to the Next Generation of 9-1-1, and was selected as one of five Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to participate in the Proof of Concept portion of the USDOT’s Next Generation 9-1-1 Initiative.
Since June, three testing laboratories and the five PSAPs have been transmitting voice, text messages, video, and telematics data. This technology will be demonstrated for elected officials, public safety officials and the media at this event.