Monday, March 18, 2019

FCC Gets ‘Vertical’ With 911 Location Data

More than 80 percent of 911 calls today are made from wireless phones. The FCC has been modernizing its 911 location accuracy rules, and Friday proposed updating them to make it easier to locate callers in multi-story buildings. The proposal would help 911 call centers identify the floor level where the call originated.

The debate grew spirited at times, and vote split along party lines.
A landline automatically sends data containing the caller’s address to 911. Callers expect the same kind of accuracy when they use a cell phone to call 911. The FCC’s Enhanced 911 location accuracy rules, require wireless providers to meet an increasingly stringent series of location accuracy benchmarks, including providing the caller’s “dispatchable” location (such as the street address and apartment number), or a vertical location on a phased-in basis, beginning in April 2121.

On Friday, the Commission proposed a vertical (or “z-axis”) location accuracy metric of plus or minus three meters above or below the phone for 80 percent of indoor wireless 911 calls.   Continue Reading

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