Homing in on the Future of Public Safety with Integrated Mapping

When someone makes a Triple Zero (000) call, it may be one of the most distressing and traumatic moments of their life. Under these circumstances, it’s crucial that telecommunicators have every advantage to facilitate fast and effective emergency call handling. Gathering the necessary information to get the right resources where they’re needed as soon as possible can make all the difference.

There are many aspects to locating a caller’s emergency, but one of the most crucial is location information. Bringing emergency resources to callers requires knowing where they are — which isn’t always easy to do. Simply asking callers may not produce actionable or accurate information, which can cost valuable seconds — or even minutes — in response time.

The need for accurate location information is why advanced mapping capabilities are going to be crucial to the future of Australia’s Next Generation 000 (NG000) emergency response systems. Seamless integration of advanced mapping capabilities with the suite of other capabilities, both present and future, will improve the accuracy and efficiency of call handling by Emergency Service Organisations (ESOs).

Gathering Accurate Situational Awareness Information Faster

Callers in highly stressful situations cannot always be relied upon to relay accurate or useful location information. Accurate mapping capabilities integrated directly into call handling software can give telecommunicators precise knowledge of where a call is coming from, a much clearer understanding of the situation on the ground, and how each call relates to other calls coming into the ESO. By integrating precise mapping capabilities, telecommunicators can reduce or potentially eliminate time-intensive verifications and quickly deploy emergency services with pinpoint accuracy.

Today’s advanced mapping capabilities can also be configured to pull relevant information from other local sources at the scene of an emergency. The additional information can help telecommunicators sort out whether any emergency response services have already been dispatched for a given incident. If multiple calls are all coming from a single location, it’s possible they may be related to a single incident. With the ability to segregate incoming calls by location, calls can be prioritized quickly, without compromising response efforts.

Consider how firefighters are already using drones to gather location information to assist with emergency response, tracking the progress of fire in different locations and ensuring resources are allocated efficiently. Future efforts to improve emergency response will likely involve the use of LiDAR to create 3D maps of buildings, and the use of fireproof robots, which can enter buildings to gather situational awareness data, such as video. Combined with advanced mapping, telecommunicators will have more rich and detailed information than ever before that they can pass on to response teams.

Delivering on Potential Demands Requires Underlying Capabilities

As Australia continues moving towards NG000 and mapping tools begin to be integrated into ESO operations, it’s crucial that any solution have the necessary underlying capabilities to deliver on the situational awareness that advanced mapping provides.

One fundamental element of any effective mapping solution is a GIS system. Particularly in a country like Australia, which is very large geographically but comparatively small population-wise, pinpointing a caller’s location depends on the accuracy of the available GIS data.

Geofencing is another important capability for any mapping solution. It’s particularly relevant and useful for managing larger scale emergencies. With geofencing, mapping software can automatically group incoming calls by location such as at a concert, protest, or sporting event like the Olympics. This makes call taking and dispatching of first responders faster and more efficient, letting telecommunicators quickly identify if calls are related to one incident. Calls can then be automatically prioritized based on location, freeing up telecommunicator resources to handle other emergency calls.

Seamless Integration Enables Efficient Call Handling

How advanced mapping is integrated with call handling systems is also crucial. Being able to manage and prioritize calls from within the mapping application ensures telecommunicators can quickly resolve calls in the order that makes the most sense, based on the call location and status. By visualizing additional data, telecommunicators can easily and effectively make use of additional situational awareness information.

Integrated solutions also allow telecommunicators to gather more and higher quality information during a call. An integrated mapping application allows GIS information to be isolated and viewed in layers, with zoom in, zoom out, and panning capabilities. Telecommunicators can efficiently home in on the elements relevant for the call and filter out others, whether that’s only showing specific types of buildings, such as schools or banks, or zooming in from a building footprint to a detailed floor plan.

ESOs must rely on integrated but also purpose-built solutions. An application built specifically to meet the needs of public safety will provide telecommunicators the crucial location information they need, including precise caller locations, automatic zoom to the call location features, the ability to visually track the caller if they move, and more. An integrated emergency call handling solution will combine these capabilities with advanced call handling features, such as display icons indicating the status of all calls on the map, into one seamless, configurable interface. A purpose-built solution can be counted on to comply with today’s standards and with future regulations as Australia transitions to, and beyond, NG000.

Solacom Delivers a Future-Proof Mapping Solution

The last thing a telecommunicator needs is to struggle with their call handling system. That will be as true tomorrow as it is today.

Solacom is an industry leader in public safety solutions, delivering advanced mapping capabilities in the Guardian Map application, which is fully integrated with the rest of the Solacom Emergency Call Handling software suite.

With Guardian Map, telecommunicators can answer and handle calls directly from the map menu, and the solution is built to provide the foundation for more advanced capabilities as Australia’s NG000 rolls out. Guardian Map automatically queries third-party databases to gather the most accurate information available when answering wireless calls, greatly enhancing the ability of telecommunicators to pinpoint callers. Its end-to-end GIS capabilities deliver the most accurate, uniform, and timely location-based information, identifying what kind of device a call is coming from and pulling data from the appropriate database.

Solacom’s purpose-built Emergency Call Handling solution is ready to meet the needs of telecommunicators today and tomorrow. With Guardian Map capabilities, Australia will be ready to take full advantage of its NG000 transition. ESOs will be better equipped to deliver superior emergency call handling, improve the efficiency and accuracy of call taking, and improve public safety from coast to coast.

For more information: https://www.comtech911.com/en-au/aus000.