SafeTREC – Advanced Mobile Safety

Can You Get an Accurate Location With 911 Cell Calls?

November 5, 2010

911 cell calls, 911 tracking, 911 dispatchers Calgary, Alberta, Canada wants to locate 911 cell phone calls. As it reads in this article, “The city is looking to make it easier to track cell phone calls made to 911.”

The article mentions putting up signs that callers can identify and read off to the emergency dispatcher to help locate the callers. There are quite a few locations in that town that have issues with 911 tracking where callers are located.

Even when 911 Dispatchers are able to locate you, the radius with which your location is determined can be over a mile. This happened in Memphis, Tennessee and can be observed in this short video. A 911 call was made about a crime and the coordinates were determined but the operators found the location to be out of their jurisdiction. When police arrived much later on the scene, the coordinates were a cell phone tower that was 1.3 miles away from where the body was located.

Such an instance is not acceptable to anybody when an emergency is occurring to them. We at SafeKidZone have the solution. Our service uses the accurate GPS in your smart phone to quickly and accurately locate you when an emergency arises.

To sign up for free, click HERE!

Filed Under: In the News, Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, 911 dispatchers, cell coverage, emergency, GPS, gps tracking, technology

Symbian phones losing support

October 1, 2010

Symbian losing support, Mashable, safekidzone You may be asking yourself, “what’s a Symbian?” Well, if you have a non-smartphone, chances are that Symbian is the software that makes your phone work. So your Motorola Krazr, Nokia phone, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG phone etc most likely is a Symbian phone.

Although Symbian does work for smartphones too in pockets the more ubiquitous smartphone operating systems are BlackBerry OS (RIM), Android (Google), and iPhoneOS (Apple).

According to this article from Mashable Samsung will be terminating its support for Symbian devices. That’s a big loss in support for Symbian since Samsung is a major cellphone manufacturer, however the fact remains that abour 41% of the overall population of cell phone users have a Symbian phone.

MobileTREC SafeKidZone took this into account when we created our Mobile Personal Security Solution so we made sure that SafeKidZone supports Symbian. Symbian users are able to enjoy most of the functionality of SafeKidZone already, with the exception of real time GPS tracking. You can still get 24×7 call center help and fill out a profile with a portrait for 911 to get if you’re ever in trouble, so they can still find you faster as our Safety Passport still saves a lot of the time that could be taken up by having to describe how a person looks over the phone.

We think GPS is an important function for all mobile phones to have and it seems Mashable’s prediction is that smartphones with GPS are going to soon have the entire market. Consider investing in a few smartphones for you and your family and then install SafeKidZone. You’ll be glad you did.

Filed Under: In the News, Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, android, blackberry, family safety, flip phones, GPS, gps tracking, iphone, Mashable, Samsung, smartphone, Symbian

The Age of Smartphone Safety Is Here

September 24, 2010

We’ve stepped into the age of smartphones. I think at this point it’s pretty much official: cell phones, smartphones in particular, are the new wave of safety devices.

SKZ GPS tracking can help 911 find you faster!

ABC news has confirmed it here and has acknowledged a wide range of applications that are meant to provide some kind of safety measure. Most are along the lines of ICE, which many of you may have heard of – it’s a program that paramedics nationwide have been pushing to encourage people to keep a phone number in their phone listed under the name ICE (In Case of Emergency) that an emergency responder can call if they find a victim who is incapacitated.

Originally ICE was meant for regular cellphones but since the advent of smartphones we are now able to do more than just call a close friend alone. We can now prevent crime or danger from striking with a little preparedness, close community, and good technology.

The ABC news article showcases a few apps that work similarly in that they are self contained within a smartphone and meant to notify your friends much in the same way ICE was originally intended – some are meant to notify you of a natural disaster and others show you the closest hospitals – assuming you can get yourself to one. However none of the apps mentioned go far enough to offer a complete personal and family safety solution in the way that MobileTREC SafeKidZone does.

SafeKidZone’s web app shows you the nearest police stations, sex offenders and crime incidents as a preventative measure. In an emergency the Panic Button notifies your friends with your GPS location in addition to our 24×7 call center – it’s like having multiple ICEs! But that’s not all, our call center can route a victim’s location, picture, vital information (i.e. appearance, medical concerns) and a situation report to 911 emergency services. That means that when help is on the way they know what to bring and where to bring it to.

We really took the time to think through what a person needs access to in an emergency while also anticipating what our 911 heroes will need to ensure that help can get to you quickly and efficiently. Why don’t you take some time to download and explore SafeKidZone today?

Filed Under: In the News, Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, ABC news, emergency, family safety, GPS, gps tracking, location based services, smartphone safety

How to use 911 Properly

September 7, 2010

Sorry for the radio silence in posting for the last little while. We have been very busy with making SafeKidZone easier to use for you and your family. In the next week you will see an enriched interface with videos, a set-up wizard and easier tools! So stay tuned!

In the mean time I wanted to post now because my Google Alerts have been lighting up with articles about the increasing use of cell phones for 911 calls. It’s like we’ve been saying for the last 8 months – 911 cell use is going to keep growing and growing. Well now it’s really reaching critical mass and more media outlets are piping up about it.

I found this article from the Daily Mail that was written as sort of a tutorial on how to use 911 properly! Perhaps it’s time to take a refresher course since 911 is being used differently from the days of the land line. Here’s the article. It’s very short and you should take special note of step 4:

4. If you call from a cellular phone, your call will be routed to the closest PSAP. (Public Safety Answering Point). Once the PSAP determines in what county the emergency is taking place, they will route you to the correct 911 Center. Note that cellular calls go to many cell sites and your call might not be answered close to where you are. You must describe to the Dispatcher the location and the emergency you are reporting.

Another thing we’ve been talking about rings true here. Cell calls may not go to the right 911 center. Why? Because of cell-tower triangulation, of course. So what happens if you don’t know where you are or if you are not able to tell 911 where you are? Big trouble. That’s why SafeKidZone sends your real GPS location to the PSAP along with your safety profile. That means that your 911 call will get to the right 911 center and they will know exactly where you are and what you look like whether you are able to give them your location or not.

That’s real life-saving safety. Share this post on your favorite social network, or through email and get the word out. We can make the world a better place and it starts with you downloading SafeKidZone today!

Filed Under: Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, cell coverage, daily mail, emergency, GPS, how to use 911, mobiletrec

Couple Slain, 911 Couldn’t Find Them

August 11, 2010

It’s time for America to wake up and realize that we’re not without a way to help our 911 heroes get there faster. Last Friday (Aug 6th) the Martins of Sutter County, California were murdered in their home despite managing to make a 911 call before the crime could be carried out. Read the Appeal-Democrat article HERE.

According to the article:

“A deputy was dispatched at 10:15 p.m., two minutes after the cell phone call to the CHP. But the CHP was unable to pinpoint the origin of the call…”

You will have probably noticed by this point that a good number of our posts tend to address situations where SafeKidZone could have helped. We’re just trying to get the message across that it’s time for people to become more active in making the world a safer place. Our hope is that you read this blog or go to our website and begin to realize the possibilities that the existence of a service as robust as ours presents.

It is definitely true that most 911 dispatches do not have a way to effectively pinpoint 911 calls that come from cell phones. This is an issue because, as we all know, most 911 calls – in fact most phone calls in general – come from cell phones. Currently the method of locating a cell-based 911 call is cell phone tower triangulation (Click here to read our previous post explaining it in more detail) but as the article states, it’s less than dependable:

“There is no official system for us to retrieve the address and subscriber immediately,”

Depending on which phone company is involved and the type of phone, the CHP [California Highway Patrol] can triangulate the call and get an approximate location “but many factors have to align to make this happen,” McElfresh said

That’s why SafeKidZone uses real satellite GPS so we can help friends and 911 accurately locate a person in trouble, no matter where they are on the globe. It’s time to get the word out to your community and we are more than ready to help where we can.

Cell phones replacing home phones - SafeKidZone

Cell phones are replacing home phones with cheap rate plans. This picture was taken Aug. 11 2010

The prevalent factor here seems to be that more and more people are completely ditching their home phones and replacing them with cell phones. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as crime can happen anywhere and it’s better to be connected than not. In the Martins’ case it happened in their home but it’s far easier and safer to conceal a cell phone from an intruder and remain mobile than it is to run to a land line outlet and be pinned to that spot. Even cell phone service carriers are stepping up aggressively to encourage people to go 100% mobile with low-cost plans packed with minutes. Just today I snapped a shot of this billboard at a cell phone store, illustrating that very phenomenon.

Rather than resist this change I think it’s better to embrace it and help 911 do the same. Everyone knows that the major bottleneck that slows the process of upgrading 911 systems is budget concerns. SafeKidZone knows this too so we are more than happy to help with our service which requires no special equipment other than a computer and a cell phone. We need to start the conversation and roll with the change to make our environment safer for us and our children.

So download SafeKidZone and join the conversation on Twitter, FaceBook and right here on our blog.

Filed Under: In the News, Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, California Highway Patrol, cell coverage, CHP, GPS, Martin Family, news, Sutter, Sutter county

No 911 location from cell phone calls? We beg to differ.

August 4, 2010

Today’s article entitled “No 911 location from cell phone calls” comes to us via The Democrat. It frames calling 911 from one’s cell phone as a problem because of a common problem of accurately locating where the call is originating since a cell phone is not tethered to any landlines. That is, back in the days before cell phones, 911 could find you easily because they knew where your land line was and what home address it was registered to.

Those were the days of the legacy systems but the alarming thing is that many 911 dispatch centers still use the very same systems to handle 911 calls today! The problem they face is that well over 90% of 911 cell calls come from cell phones nowadays. What’s more is that people are replacing their land lines altogether in favor of using their cell phones as their only phone line.

Most 911 calls come from Cell phones now.

And why not? Cell phones are packed with features and now we have smart phones (i.e. Blackberry and Android phones) which are essentially hand held computers that allow you to do just about anything. The iPad is nothing more than a giant iPhone, if you think about it, and it’s being marketed as a tablet computer.

The Democrat article drives home the fact that 911 operators have issues locating cell-based 911 calls which makes it harder for them to find you if you’re in an emergency, which means it takes longer to find you and that can be dangerous considering every second counts.

So what’s stopping them from upgrading their equipment to handle cell calls? Money. Here’s a quote right from the article:

Copeland says an equipment upgrade would help the problem, but it would cost the county several hundred thousand dollars to implement.

If you to tell us at SafeKidZone that this problem is a fact that you can’t change, our position would be this: we respectfully disagree. Although it is true that the problem described by the Democrat article is very real, we and our users all know that we have the solution and it doesn’t cost the city, the county or the state one red cent.

SafeKidZone sends your GPS location to 911 dispatchers. Period. That one simple fact about our service solves the problem completely, but that’s not enough for us. We’re serious about keeping you and your family safe so we’ve even included vital information and a photo that can be sent to 911 so they can not only locate you in an emergency, but also identify you quickly. We save time and have the potential to significantly cut down the time it takes for 911 to arrive with help simply because they know where you are and know what you look like.

That’s power.

Sign up and start making your streets safer from your cell phone.
Tell all your friends about us on facebook by clicking HERE ! Make sure you hit the “Like” button at the top of the page to spread the word!

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: 911 cell call, apple, cell coverage, emergency, GPS, gps tracking, ipad, safekidszone, Safekidzone, technology

NXNEi and GovCamp

June 27, 2010

So if you’ve been following our tweets, you may be wondering what on earth is NXNEi and GovCamp. Well I’ll tell you that they are very exciting to say the least!

I was privileged enough to be attend North By Northeast in Toronto for the last two days and even more privileged to take part in the first interactive conference offered by it in Canada. NXNE is the counterpart to South By Southwest and is a place where the most influential people in media and technology come together in a mutual forum to discuss the future of communications, entertainment and interactive technology, like SafeKidZone. Some of the best developers and web gurus were present and I was honored to meet Ze Frank, Zachary Lieberman, and Erica Ehm or YummyMummyClub.ca.

In the past, I’ve recommended Cafémom.com as a great forum for moms to talk about all the issues, so I’m excited to recommend Yummy mummy club as well to our Canadian subscribers. Yummy Mummy Club is a website for moms to come together and discuss just about anything they want with the common ground of being parents. They are providing a great sounding board for mothers to become part of a very large community to pass on pearls of wisdom whether they be advice about how best parent one’s child to where to find that perfect nail polish color. Either way, it’s the place to be and if you’re a a Canadian mom, I highly recommend yummymummyclub.ca

On to GovCamp: If I could describe it in one word, that word would be “challenging.” GovCamp was put on by Microsoft and it was a forum to demonstrate and learn about applications that utilize public data. Obviously this was right up SafeKidZone‘s alley.

SKZ's table at GovCamp

I met some influential people in the Canadian government and one in particular really grilled me about the implications of SafeKidZone. Her main concern was privacy and I was happy to inform her that SafeKidZone usage is opt-in, permission based. That is, a SafeKidZone user with a

protected phone can invite specific people to their safety network who are trusted and then decide how much information to share with each individual in their network. For example, if you don’t want to share your panic button alerts but don’t want to share your location with a contact you can set that.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been to several conferences, met many people and showed SafeKidZone to just about every person I’ve spoken to and I noticed that the common response from all those who have discovered SKZ has consistently been positive. To be more specific, people are feeling like SKZ is simply a no-brainer, or what I like to call, an “idea in good currency.” Of course! Who wouldn’t want to keep their families safe in a socially responsible way! This sentiment keeps us going and we appreciate your input at all times.

So please sign up for safekidzone and help us make it better! Download it to your phone and give us your feedback – we’re always listening. Email us or join the conversation on twitter.

Rolling with the hard questions

Filed Under: Safekidzone Tagged With: 911 cell call, family safety, Govcamp, GPS, NXNE, NXNEi, Safekidzone, safety, technology

NXNE 2010

June 19, 2010

We’re at North by Northeast (NXNE) 2010 and we will have much to report at its conclusion.

The weather is beautiful and we’re out to play. For those of you that don’t know, NXNE is in its 16th year and is the place where new ideas and music are showcased! This year NXNE added the NXNE interactive conference and you can bet SafeKidZone was there!

So far NXNE has been a perfect way to take SafeKidZone out into the field as an application that can help keep track of our friends and family in large crowds. With an eye to safety and panic button in hand, we can enjoy NXNE with a little less worry!

Stay tuned for our wrap up and some pictures! Follow us on twitter to get the latest updates as they happen!

Filed Under: Safekidzone Tagged With: emergency, GPS, gps tracking, North by Northeast, NXNE, Safekidzone, safety, Toronto

Police Force Cuts

June 11, 2010

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Bell City Council to vote on cutting police force | 89.3 KPCC.

The article linked above is a bit unsettling. Bell City is situated pretty much at the heart of the Los Angeles area and they’re thinking of cutting their local police force.

It’s no secret that police in that area are spread a little thin and it’s not just in Bell City. The Wall Street Journal did a piece on the cutting of police all over California and it’s not just happening in California either. It’s happening in Dallas, Boston, Jacksonville and pretty much all over the country.

The common cause? Budget contraints. We’re still in a recession, no two ways about it, and it’s serious enough that cities are actually considering cutting essential service like police! It’s no stretch of the imagination to know what this means for the safety of our communities, families, and friends.

One of the main reasons SafeKidZone was established was because we knew that much of the problem of improving 911 systems and helping police, fire and ambulance save lives more efficiently depended on what the fiscal budget was relating to such an undertaking. Most emergency departments simply can’t hire and train more staff and they certainly can’t budget out the equipment costs related to improving 911 services to be up to date in a cell-phone user’s society.

So we figured we would GIVE them a call center staffed with trained representatives and build the technology that could bridge the gap to keep our communities safer while making our 911 heroes’ jobs that much easier.

So if you’re reading this and you live in a town, city, county or state that is thinking of cutting its police force, speak up! Take SafeKidZone to your representatives and tell them that you have a way!

Follow us on twitter and facebook or go to our website and Sign Up! We support most cell phones and that also includes Blackberry and Android!

Here’s a video of concerned community members speaking out in Jacksonville.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: 911 cell call, Bell City, boston globe, cell coverage, emergency, family, GPS, gps tracking, police, police force cuts, recession, Safekidzone, safety, sex offender, technology, wall street journal

911 system to be assessed

June 7, 2010

I was reading this article on what seemed at the outset to be a pretty positive thing for the 911 system. As the title of the article implies that there is some movement on making 911 systems better, I got excited.

However upon closer reading of the article I must be frank in saying that Carbon County’s decision to pay an outside company to assess their wireless 911 service’s ability to track the origin of emergency calls seems a bit expensive at $184,000 considering the answer pretty much depends on the location and amount of cell towers that exist in a particular location. I don’t think residents of Carbon County will be all too pleased about having to pay another dollar that will be levied by their cell carriers to recoup the cost for the project.

If you’re one of our regular readers you will know the story already: Improper 911 call routing usually takes place in remote areas or even in developed areas that don’t have a lot of cell towers to aid in triangulation.

Saying that triangulation is GPS is sort of a misnomer because real GPS uses satellites in orbit to locate you no matter where you are, whereas Cell tower triangulation makes an estimate of your location in relation to the nearest cell towers. If the towers malfunction in that particular area (i.e. what happened in Salt Lake City: click here to read the post) of if there are not enough towers, your 911 call may go to th wrong dispatch which could mean that help arrives late or not at all! Bottom line: satellite GPS is actually more accurate.

SafeKidZone uses real GPS that’s as good as it gets. Because your satellite GPS location and information can be sent as a package to 911, emergency services can find you even if your cell signal is being routed to the wrong call center. This means that the common error of misrouting can be instantly corrected and sent to the right 911 dispatch, potentially saving a life because help can arrive faster as a response center (i.e. police station, fire station, ambulance station) that is nearer to you will be the one that is sent into motion.

Today’s article says that the system of cell phone tower location has made it safer for hikers and hunters with cell phones in the woods, and that’s true, but SafeKidZone GPS would make it even safer and I would caution against relying on cell tower geolocation in an emergency, especially in remote areas.

The other issue that plagues 911 emergency response is broad and I will discuss that with you tomorrow. What I can tell is that cell phones now account for the vast majority of 911 calls made by sheer virtue of the fact that just about everyone has one and that most emergencies happen outside of one’s house.

Here are two articles that I strongly recommend you read before I comment on them tomorrow.

The first one is about the importance of having a cell phone as a safety device and can be read here.

The other one is about the common problems current 911 dispatch deal with because many dispatch centers are not set up properly to handle 911 cell calls. Read it here and check back tomorrow because I will show you how SafeKidZone can bring 911 up to speed today.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: 911 cell call, carbon county, cell coverage, family, government technolgy, GPS, gps tracking, KXAN, NBC news, news, Safekidzone, sex offender, technology, texas teens lost, wishtv8