Ambulance service to pinpoint mobile calls

The London Ambulance Service has implemented a system to automatically pinpoint the location of a caller phoning 999 from a mobile phone.

About 750 mobile calls - about a quarter of all emergency calls - are received by the service every day, with the caller often unsure about their exact location.

With the new system, when a mobile 999 call is connected to the control room, the operator can see an on-screen map of the part of London the person is calling from, enabling them to allocate resources faster.

The service is able to receive data about the location of the mobile phone 'cell' that transmits the call, which shows an ellipse on the operator's map indicating the approximate location.

The information details the coverage area of the cell from which the mobile call was made, which can be between 500m and 3,750m across.

'Larger cells are typically indicative of a less populated area, with less people in the area, so in the centre of London it's going to be a small circle,' said London Ambulance Service deputy director of technology Quentin Armitage.

The mobile phone positioning technology that transmits details of a caller's location was developed last year by a working group consisting of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3, working with BT and Cable and Wireless.

Research has shown that improved location awareness cuts an average of 30 seconds off emergency calls.

'For about five years now, landline calls coming in via BT would have data tagged on that allowed us to look up the address and phone number of the caller by the time they were connected,' said Armitage.

The service already uses bespoke mobile devices in its ambulances that allow operators to electronically transmit caller location details to drivers, rather than telling them on the phone.

'We always seek to make use of any technology available that will enhance our service to the public,' said Armitage.