Jelf
New member
I have posted about this before here in hunttalk but it has been a few years so time for a refresher.
Assume you are outside somewhere, something bad happens and you need to contact 911. Since you are not at a street address the best location data you can give to the dispatcher is (1) latitude longitude in *decimal degrees* and (2) the equally important accuracy value for those coordinates. Dispatchers are very familiar with coordinate data in this format.
When you call 911 with your cell phone the wireless carrier handling your 911 call is supposed to produce reasonably accurate coordinates for you and make that data available to the 911 dispatcher. In 911-speak these are called “phase 2” coordinates. For various reasons the “phase 2” coordinates for a cell phone caller are sometimes never produced by the wireless carrier or have terrible accuracy.
Are you curious to know why wireless carriers sometimes do not provide 911 dispatchers with good “phase 2” coordinates? I was too! So a few years ago I did a deep dive into documents on the FCC website. Below is a link to a PDF report I produced that will tell you what I learned. Anyone who reads the report will likely be convinced that it is *critically important* that everyone have an easy way to use their phone in a stressful emergency to display their coordinates (latitude longitude in decimal degrees) *and* accuracy value.
Open PDF report:
http://findmesar.com/p/pdf/cell_phone_coordinates_and_911.pdf
Yes, some 911 call centers have additional technology such as RapidSOS that might be able to produce coordinates for you when the “phase 2” coordinates fail. But instead of betting someone’s life on the *assumption* that the 911 call center has some tech that can generate accurate coordinates for you, a much better plan is for you to give the dispatcher your (1) latitude longitude in *decimal degrees* and (2) the equally important accuracy value.
If you want to use the FindMeSAR (https://findmesar.com) webpage I developed, great. This project is a public service and part of my way to “pay it forward”. See near the end of the above PDF file for more information about FindMeSAR. But if you have some other way to easily display your coordinates and accuracy in a stressful emergency, that is fine too. The point here is that everyone (spouse, kids, crazy uncle Harry, etc) should have some easy way to display their coordinates and accuracy value with their cell phone if they ever need to call/text 911.
Assume you are outside somewhere, something bad happens and you need to contact 911. Since you are not at a street address the best location data you can give to the dispatcher is (1) latitude longitude in *decimal degrees* and (2) the equally important accuracy value for those coordinates. Dispatchers are very familiar with coordinate data in this format.
When you call 911 with your cell phone the wireless carrier handling your 911 call is supposed to produce reasonably accurate coordinates for you and make that data available to the 911 dispatcher. In 911-speak these are called “phase 2” coordinates. For various reasons the “phase 2” coordinates for a cell phone caller are sometimes never produced by the wireless carrier or have terrible accuracy.
Are you curious to know why wireless carriers sometimes do not provide 911 dispatchers with good “phase 2” coordinates? I was too! So a few years ago I did a deep dive into documents on the FCC website. Below is a link to a PDF report I produced that will tell you what I learned. Anyone who reads the report will likely be convinced that it is *critically important* that everyone have an easy way to use their phone in a stressful emergency to display their coordinates (latitude longitude in decimal degrees) *and* accuracy value.
Open PDF report:
http://findmesar.com/p/pdf/cell_phone_coordinates_and_911.pdf
Yes, some 911 call centers have additional technology such as RapidSOS that might be able to produce coordinates for you when the “phase 2” coordinates fail. But instead of betting someone’s life on the *assumption* that the 911 call center has some tech that can generate accurate coordinates for you, a much better plan is for you to give the dispatcher your (1) latitude longitude in *decimal degrees* and (2) the equally important accuracy value.
If you want to use the FindMeSAR (https://findmesar.com) webpage I developed, great. This project is a public service and part of my way to “pay it forward”. See near the end of the above PDF file for more information about FindMeSAR. But if you have some other way to easily display your coordinates and accuracy in a stressful emergency, that is fine too. The point here is that everyone (spouse, kids, crazy uncle Harry, etc) should have some easy way to display their coordinates and accuracy value with their cell phone if they ever need to call/text 911.
