Smartphone applications provide great promise for improving 911 services, but the vast differences between the app development and public safety worlds raise a range of complications for implementation, panelists at an FCC event said. The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau hosted the workshop to discuss what app developers need to know about 911 and how apps could be used to improve 911.

Bureau Chief David Simpson said, “If we have Uber that can get to the right place at the right time, we should certainly have 911 do that reliably.  It is not meant to be dismissive of the difficulty in making sure that it is right all the time, every time.  But it is a very important aspirational endpoint for us.” The goal of the event was “asking today’s world and tomorrow’s to improve the 911 services to America,” Mr. Simpson said. Commercial apps like Uber may not work in all locations or may have some inaccuracies or may not be compatible with current 911 systems, Mr. Simpson said.

“Even if there is no silver bullet that will magically solve all the challenges of the 911 system, we cannot ignore the upside – the potential for apps to improve 911.  It is that potential that has led us to take a closer look at the use of apps in 911 service and to see how they can best be integrated in the 911 ecosystem.” Mr. Simpson added that the FCC does not seek to regulate 911 apps.  “Our purpose today is to explore what is technologically feasible” and what can be accomplished through voluntary collaboration by app developers, 911 professionals, and technology providers, he said.

“It has to be reliable and safe, though,” he said.  “We would fail in our mission if we provide apps that consumers put on their phones that break that connection between the person who needs help and 911.  That’s got to work all the time, every time.  That is a bright line for me.”

The second requirement is that any new apps can’t generate new costs for public safety answering points (PSAPs), Mr. Simpson said.  “It has to be efficient and doesn’t inject confusion into how one reaches a PSAP,” he said.

During a panel discussion on what app developers need to know about the 911 system, Tim Merlot, chief executive officer of TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS), said app developers will need to address issues surrounding call routing. Wireless calls are routed based on the location of the tower, he said. “That is not necessarily going to be the right call center or right 911 public safety answering point that is going to reach the managed point for the call. . Is there a way that we can improve our call routing such that we don’t have many more – none if possible – transfers in the future?”

In addition, another challenge will involve enhanced location technology, Mr. Merlot said.  “We have found that because of the type of technology used that different technologies take a different amount of time to get to a caller,” he said.  “In particular, the industry has moved more and more to GPS as location technology.  That technology typically takes eight to 12 seconds to get the enhanced location fix.  Unfortunately, calls route in four to six seconds.”

Larry Reeder of Bandwidth.com said another complication involves the differences between app developers and PSAPs.  “App developers have an aggressive schedule.  They may not have extensive budgets to work with. They are using the newest technology,” he said.  “On the PSAP side, they have schedules that for good reason are five years or a decade out on doing system and technology upgrades.  They are limited with the data that they can receive.”

Panelists also discussed the potential need for some sort of certification to ensure that 911 apps are sufficiently reliable and accurate. “I think there should be a certification process that the FCC or some institutional body has to ensure that the technology is reliable and it works,” said Jeff Grass of Live Safe.

Ashok Agrawala of the University of Maryland said that while the focus is on the user side of the apps, “somebody has to make sure that the app works with the PSAP.  All the PSAPs are using software that some company built.  We have to look at that software displaying information they receive and what can happen on that side too.” Another important issue will be consumer education about the capabilities and limitations of any such apps, panelists said.

Christy Williams of the North Central Texas Council of Governments said ensuring that there are consistent messages for consumers will be a key. “I’m not prepared to tell you what that consistent message [should be] because there are so many differences in the apps, but it is vital that we do not confuse the citizens with the conflicting messages,” she said. – Brian Hammond, brian.hammond@wolterskluwer.com