Location Technology Could Save Lives Across Europe

The location based services provider, TruePosition has launched a report providing insights and recommendations for the rapid deployment of location technology to help the emergency services shorten response times and save lives. The report highlights the increased risk faced by European mobile users in an emergency situation, with more than 50% of emergency calls now made from mobile phones.

Conservative estimates indicate that each year over 1 million emergency callers in Europe are unable to indicate their location, whilst in several million emergencies, valuable time is lost because wrong or inaccurate location information is provided. This not only puts European mobile users at risk, but represents a significant drain on valuable emergency service resources.

Europe is already lagging behind the US in this area. The Federal Communications Commission passed a mandate 8 years ago, requiring network operators to pass accurate location information from their subscribers to the emergency services to help speed response times. The technology has already been rolled out to cover almost 100 million mobile users, and is saving lives.

In the EU, the Commission passed a Recommendation this time last year, requiring mobile operators to provide caller location information to the emergency services, 'within the technological possibilities of the networks'. Unlike the equivalent 'E-911' mandate in the US, however, the Recommendation fell short of stipulating accuracy or reliability levels, preferring to adopt a 'best effort' approach. A progress review will commence next month.

Produced in collaboration with emergency service and location experts from around the globe, the new report from TruePosition will be presented to the European Commission as it begins its evaluation.

"In any emergency situation, time is critical, and there are already too many tragic cases of emergency services being unable to locate accident and disaster victims in time to make a difference," said Mike Amarosa, Senior Vice President of PUBLIC Affairs at TruePosition - the company that has delivered the E-911 location technology for two of the three national GSM operators in the US.

"Emergency wireless location technology is already saving lives in the US. This report examines the impact that it could have in Europe, and assesses the best way to introduce a solution that will eliminate the emergency response time lottery for mobile users across the continent."

Posted to the site on 10th November 2004