Project
Overview
What
is Enhanced 911?
Enhanced
911 (E-911) is an automated
system that uses the
caller's telephone
number to determine
their location. Citizens
of Seattle and King
County have benefited
from the Enhanced 911
system since 1985.
What
is the Enhanced 911
(E-911) Program Office
GPS
Address Project?
The
objectives of this
project are to enable
the association between
wireless and Voice
over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) 911 caller
locations and actual
street addresses in
the 911 centers'
maps. This will facilitate
the ability of the
911 centers to dispatch
police, fire, and emergency
medical responders
to specific addresses
rather than general
areas.
In
order to accomplish
the association between
the 911 caller latitude/longitude
locations and street
addresses in the mapping
system, the addresses
throughout King County
must be GPS (Global
Positioning System)
located. This will
be a two-year
project to be completed
between January 2005
and December 2006.
The
E-911 Program has contracted
with MicroDATA
GIS, a company that
specializes in E-911
mapping systems, to
GPS locate all addresses
in King County. The
vendor has a system
that allows addresses
to be GPS located,
either through the
use of existing King
County orthophotography
or by physically visiting
the address, and these
GPS address locations
will then be downloaded
into the existing E-911
mapping software. The
vendor's software then
provides for a link
between the latitude/longitude
locations provided
by the wireless carriers
to the GPS location
of an address, and
will display both the
latitude/ longitude
and the associated
address on a map
at the 911 center.
This will allow the
call takers at the
911 centers to more
quickly identify the
location of the 911
caller, and will allow
for the dispatch of
police and fire responders
to a specific address
rather than a general
area.
Why the E-911 GPS Address Project?
Currently,
43 percent
of 911 calls are made
from
wireless
phones. In addition,
many people are giving
up their traditional
wired phone at home
and use only a wireless
phone. Currently, caller
locations are identified
as a latitude/longitude
location, and there
is no association of
the caller's location
with an actual street
address. As more wireless
911 calls come from
homes, and as these
may be the only
phones available for
children
and others in the home
to use to call 911,
it is becoming critical
that wireless caller
locations can be associated
automatically with
individual addresses.
In addition, Voice
over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) technology is
expected to become
widespread, and these
locations will likely
be presented as a latitude/longitude
similar to wireless.
The
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) requires
the wireless carriers
to provide the latitude/longitude
locations of wireless
911 callers to the
911 centers. It is
the responsibility
of the counties to
convert the latitude/longitude
into a location that
is usable to dispatchers
and responders.
To
accomplish this, the
E-911 Program has installed
an E-911
mapping system
at the call answering
positions at the
911 centers. The system
displays
the latitude/longitude
location provided
by the wireless carriers
on a map for the
call taker. This shows
the call taker
the
general area the
call
is coming from, but
does not provide
a specific address.
Traditional
wireline 911 calls
display the exact
address the call is
coming
from, and it is possible
to dispatch police
and fire responders
to the specific address.
By contrast, with
current wireless 911
calls the
dispatcher is only
able to send
responders to the
general area shown
on the map
and described by
the caller. The
lack
of a specific address
is
slowing both the time
to dispatch and
the time it takes the
responders
to
locate the caller.
The
Role of the King County
E-911 Program Office
The
E-911 Program Office
administers the regional
emergency 911 telephone
system in King County.
The system covers the
entire county, including
all incorporated cities
and unincorporated
areas. There are thirteen
911 centers
in the system that
answer 911 calls.
The
911 calls from
wireline telephones
are selectively routed
to the correct 911
center based on the
address of the caller.
911 calls are first
routed to the police
911 center, and
then
may be transferred
to a different fire/emergency
medical 911 center
if these services
are needed. In addition,
the telephone's subscriber
and address information
are displayed on
the
call taker's screen
at the 911 center.
In situations where
the caller is unable
to give their location,
for example, when
the caller is a child
or
a very
ill person, emergency
personnel can still
respond to the caller's
location using this
information.
Many
911 calls are made
from
wireless phones.
Approximately 1.8
million 911 calls
are answered in
King
County each year.
Of these calls, 850,000
(about 43
percent) are made from
wireless
phones.
King
County has worked with
all the wireless carriers
who offer service here
to implement Phase
I and Phase II Enhanced
911 service for wireless
911 callers. This
service provides the
telephone number of
the wireless phone,
and the location of
the cell site that
processed the 911
call. In addition,
technology has been
implemented to determine
the location of the
911 caller, and to
display the location
on a map at the 911
center.
Some
wireless carriers have
implemented
a network solution,
where special equipment
has been added to
their network to determine
the location of the
caller. In this case,
all wireless phones
accessing that carrier's
network will be located.
Other carriers have
implemented a system
that uses GPS chips
in the wireless phones
to determine location.
In this case, wireless
phone users will
not
be located unless
they have purchased
a new
wireless phone that
is equipped with
the GPS chip for 911.
Wireless phone users
should contact their
wireless carrier
to
determine which system
their carrier uses.
Since Enhanced 911
technology was invented
for wireline telephones
and began to be implemented
in the 1980s, there
have been many changes
and advancements
to the service driven
by new telecommunications
services.
King
County was one of the
first communities to
implement an Enhanced
system in 1985, and
has remained at the
forefront of providing
advanced services since
that time. Given that
King County is the
12th most populated
county in the nation,
and that our area is
technologically progressive,
we are traditionally
one of the first markets
in which new telecommunications
technologies are introduced.
As a result, our E-911
system must attempt
to provide service
to users of these technologies
before effective E-911
solutions are
developed. Our policy
has been to ensure
that E-911 service
is provided to the
public regardless of
the technology used
to make and transmit
the 911 call. As such,
the E-911 Program Office
actively participates
in the development
of E-911 solutions
for new technologies
in an effort to provide
effective service,
rather than sitting
back and waiting for
someone else to figure
out the answers. This
not only allows us
to be early implementers
of the new technical
solutions, but also
allows King County
to be influential in
the development of
solutions that best
meet our needs and
the needs of our public.
E-911
Program Office staff
actively participate
on national committees
that work to set
standards
for new technologies.
They are also leaders
at the state level
by participating
on and chairing statewide
E-911 committees.
In
addition, King County
has facilitated many
technical trials
of new solutions, in
which
the new technologies
are deployed in a
test environment in
order
to ensure that they
work successfully
before they are deployed
operationally
to the public.
The
Past and Future of
E-911 Service for Wireless
Phone Users
The
effort to provide effective
E-911 service to mobile
wireless phone users
has been in progress
for approximately seventeen
years throughout the
nation. Several enhancements
have improved the
service over the years.
In King County, we
were one of the first
jurisdictions to give
wireless phone users
the capability of dialing
911 in 1988. In 1995,
routing of the 911
calls by cell site
sector and the display
of the call-back telephone
number was added, and
we were one of the
first to provide these
capabilities. In 1996,
the FCC established
requirements for wireless
E-911 service in two
phases. Phase
I, which
provides the call-back
telephone number and
cell site location,
was implemented in
King County with all
of the wireless carriers
in 2002 and early 2003.
Phase II,
which adds wireless
caller location,
was implemented in
2003.
King
County has been on
the forefront of wireless
E-911 service implementation,
and was one of the
first to fully implement
Phase II service. As
the E-911 Dispatch
Centers (also known
as a Public Safety
Answering Points—PSAPs)
have experienced working
with this service,
limitations of the
technology have caused
frustrations and have
increased the workload
associated with handling
the wireless 911 calls.
This project, along
with the Phase II accuracy
testing project, are
attempting to address
the issues that have
arisen from the experience
of working with the
Phase II technology.
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