At the moment you find yourself dialing 911 during an emergency, the exact address of your location may be the last thing on your mind.
Scrambling to get your facts straight with the dispatcher, you search for the nearest street sign. Though most dispatchers are provided with an approximate location based on where you are calling from, Atlanta E-911 Director Desiree Arnold said Thursday that it’s never been exact enough for first responders to make it to a scene as quickly as necessary.
Since late May, that issue has been resolved.
With the implementation of a new Cloud-based technology, 911 dispatchers have been able to accurately pinpoint callers within Atlanta without having to ask their location. The software system, Carbyne Universe, provides call centers with precise locations and video, photo, instant chat and conferencing capabilities to better connect first responders to those seeking help. The New York-based company currently works with 70 government agencies across the United States, Israel and Mexico.
“One of the issues that citizens had while calling 911 is that we always needed them to tell us where they are,” Arnold said during a media tour of the facility. “Now we’re able to assist them or we’re able to tell them where they are.”
Before the integration of Carbyne, dispatchers would get only an estimated location of the incoming calls. Carbyne CEO and founder Amir Elichai said locations coming from callers’ phones usually have a radius of about 100 meters, meaning first responders then have to find the exact location of the incident based on the approximation.
This idea came to Elichai after he was robbed at a Tel Aviv beach in 2014, he said. Amid the stress, he struggled to tell dispatchers his exact location. It was his first time calling 911 — an experience that stuck with him. He wanted to ensure no one had to struggle to get help when they needed it the most.
“We have a small device that basically can bring location automatically without the call taker doing anything. Just this small saving of time can be translated to a huge save of people’s lives,” he said.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Carbyne uses technology that is already embedded into IOS and Android devices, sending the specific location from your phone to dispatchers’ computers. When a location is not automatically sent to the E-911 center due to phone limitations, dispatchers have the ability to text callers a link, allowing them to then share their location.
Arnold said the inability “to locate people has been an issue” for E-911 centers across the country for a long time.
“Oftentimes people don’t know where they are ... and this technology allows us to not put the burden on the person to determine where they are, but it allows us to assist them and make sure that we get the right resources to them in a timely manner,” she added.
A similar technology is being used in Brookhaven, where police officers have been able to listen to 911 calls and get an incident location in real time since October. Live911, a software created by California-based company HigherGround, has saved Brookhaven police and countless other agencies across the U.S. precious time when responding to scenes.
While this type of technology is becoming more widespread, Carbyne also allows callers to provide photos and video and also chat with dispatchers via instant messaging with the same link that dispatchers can text to callers asking them to share their location.
Teneria Gilstrap, who has been working as a dispatcher in Atlanta for 15 years, said the ability to see video from the scene has helped her get just as much information from a caller without having to ask too many questions while someone is in distress.
“I had an accident, and I was able to pull up the video footage to get the information, like the description of the car,” Gilstrap said. “I could see that there were injuries because I could see that the airbags had been deployed and the guy was holding his shoulder.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Arnold, who did not go into detail about the costs associated with the technology, said she is hopeful it will continue to decrease call wait times. In 2022, the average wait was about 40 seconds. This year, it’s down to 14 seconds.
The software’s interface also shows active calls and calls within the past 30 minutes. That feature is especially crucial for multiple calls regarding the same incident, ensuring that additional first responders are not sent to a scene and that dispatchers don’t spend valuable time on an incident that has already been handled by another dispatcher.
“(Carbyne) takes away the stress of trying to help someone that you don’t know where they are, and it’s already a very stressful job,” Arnold said. “So if you’re able to use this technology to at least send help, then that alleviates part of the stress that they encountered.”
About the Author
