How Callyo is using Mapbox to get first responders closer to those in need
By: John Dombzalski
Of the 240 million calls made to 911 each year, more than 80% are from mobile phones, according to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). However, unlike calls from landlines, 911 has a hard time precisely locating where someone is when they place a call from a mobile phone. At best, 911 responders can determine as close as 100 meters — a big range when seconds matter. As more and more people move off landlines and over to mobile, this is a serious problem. The FCC estimates improving location accuracy could save as many as 10,000 lives per year.
Chris Bennett, Callyo Founder & Chief Product officer, found this obscene, especially given the fact we live in a time where you can have almost anything delivered right to your doorstep.
“You think they know exactly where you are when you call 911 from your cell phone. They don’t.” — Chris Bennett
Callyo wants to make sure emergency services can find you, every time. That’s why they’ve released their latest public safety tool, i911. This free web app is designed to help first responders more accurately locate 911 callers. Through Callyo’s integration with Mapbox, Callyo can visualize live location data on the map and send it to the first responder.
They’re able to take that 100 meters (the size of a football field or in some cities, an entire block) and bring the radius down to as low as 4 meters. In the example below, they’re able to locate the user down to a certainty radius of 24 meters.
In an emergency, the process begins by having a verified first responder enter the mobile number of the emergency caller. If the caller is actively connected with or has recently contacted 911, precise automatic device location will be available without any further action. The caller’s location information then displays as a map marker on the dispatcher’s screen. If automatic location is not available, the first responder can send a text message to the caller, which when opened, asks the user for consent to share their exact whereabouts with emergency services.
Callyo’s Lead Developer, Robert Menke, who is responsible for Callyo’s Mapbox integration explains the benefits of the process:
“One of my favorite aspects of working with Mapbox is that they support — financially and technically — a great open-source library called Turf, which provides advanced geospatial analysis for the browser. Turf, in conjunction with Mapbox, enabled us to quickly put together visualizations like an uncertainty radius in a format (GeoJSON) that Mapbox natively understands. The combination of Mapbox and Turf saved us precious hours of development time and helped us deliver a world-class experience to our users.”
In an emergency, every minute matters. The less time a paramedic has to spend circling a block looking for the right location, the better. By leveraging the Mapbox capabilities inside of i911, first responders can now turn device-based location data from millions of connected devices into visualizations — saving both time and lives
To begin locating calls for service in just minutes, qualified first responders may create a free account at i911.com. In keeping the focus on privacy, user data cannot be used for any non-emergency purpose, and only authorized first responders will have access to the user’s location.
Accurately locating callers in an emergency was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.