October 29, 2018 • 9 mins
In recent months, both Apple and Google have made changes to their software that incorporates technology from a company called RapidSOS. Now, when you dial 911 from an iPhone running iOS 12+ and Android 4+, your precise location data will be made available to dispatch operators. Right now, about 50% of 911 call centers nationwide are equipped to handle the free new service.TV Segment:Blog posts:https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/apple-ios-12-securely-and-automatically-shares-emergency-location-with-911/https://www.blog.google/products/android/expanding-emergency-location-service-android-us/Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontech Easy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The new technology that's helping nine to one one call
centers get a better idea of exactly where you're calling from.
What's going on. I'm rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech.
Joining me today is Jeff Robertson.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He works for Rapid SOS. Jeff, thanks so much for
joining me.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So I saw this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Announcement from both Apple and iOS twelve that they're building
in this new technology, and then also Google came out
a couple weeks later saying kind of similar stuff. So
when you call nine one one today, in many cases,
how are they getting our current location from a cell phone?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Currently? The way they use it, if you remember elgebra class,
they sort of get three towers and they try to
look at the speed of the signal to you. The
challenge with getting a location off that is, if you're
in a building where sixty five percent of all wireless
calls people are calling from inside a building, makes it
tough to put an accurate location. So the screen of
the dispatcher has a big circle sort of you maybe
somewhere in this could be one hundred yard, two hundred yard,
(01:01):
or sometimes even a mile radius that they have to
try to find you or talk you through to describe
where you are.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And with your technology. What happens with rapid SOS.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We have worked with both the operating systems as you mentioned,
Apple's iOS twelve and Android, So when you dial nine
one one and hit send, it sends a data payload
to us, which we passed the clearing to the dispatcher,
so they see exactly where you are and in some
cases it'll even show what room you are and in
the building.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We're actually recording this year at one of LAPD's dispatch
centers for nine one one, and I saw the map
of kind of what a cell phone looks like without
the rapid SOS information versus what you guys offer, and
it's pretty different. I mean, yours is basically pinpointing the
location of the person versus the other one is just
kind of a guestimate.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, and the older method of trying to locate a
device was before smartphones were around. There is many different
sensors in both the Google devices and Android as well
Apple everything from they do an assisted GPS GPS, they
have pedometers which help with location. They have Wi Fi
sensors like the terminore and Bluetooth beacons, just to name
(02:11):
a few of the sensors they use all to improve
that location.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I know there's a whole side of privacy to all
this stuff, but when you're talking about nine one one
in particular, this is really valuable in saving lives.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Correct, And our rapid SUS technology only works when you
actually dial nine one one. Is when it activates and
sends that location. No one at the center can actually
key in your number and find out where that device
is without you actually dialing nine one one. But you're
absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So tell me what the change is.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So because Apple made this announcement in Google, you're actually
embedding your software at.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The OS level.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Correct. We did some early trials. Rapid SS has been
around for just shy a six years. Our original idea
was to have an app running in the background, but
we just found with people having to load that app
if they got a new phone where they remember to
download it again. The public has been very well trained
in the last fifty years of now I want to
just dial now on one and we have always been
(03:09):
a proponent of not having the user have to do
anything in that time of need. So we worked very
closely with both Apple and Google, and they agreed to
have our technology right embedded in the operating system so
that when you're in that moment of need, you don't
have to remember to push a button, an app or
anything else. That location gets sent to the dispatcher when
you need help.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And that's a pretty big get for your company.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
It is. We worked very hard on working with them
and also educating them what it was like in the
front lines of public safety. We find a lot of
technology companies don't know what goes on behind the scenes
in many cases of how a nine to one calls taken,
how the technology works, or even the technology and the
cruiser as you're on your way to an incident or
(03:52):
a pumper truck for that matter. So there's a lot
of technology that happens in the way and we're trying
to improve that to speed up that response.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now, I'll be honest, I mean, I just kind of
assumed that when you called from a cell phone it
gave a pretty good idea of your location.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Did landlines give a better idea because it was linked.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, Back when I was on the job, we would
get nine to one callers. In the early days of
cell phones, the bag phones. If you remember when they
were on one of those devices, nay dial nine one.
A lot of times we would tell them to pull
over a payphone pick it up in dial nine one
so we could find out where they are because that's linked,
that's a physical address, and that line had a cable
that went all the way back to the phone company.
(04:30):
They knew exactly where it was, so it's very different.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
How do I know if this is on my device?
How do I have to activate it? Do I have
to do anything?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
In particular?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You just have to make sure you're on iOS twelve
or better from Apple and the Android is anything foreign above,
which is most phones today. Android is supported, so nothing
you should have to do.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So we saw this demo here at this location for
Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Does every municipality have this in place right now?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
No, your question. There are roughly about six three hundred
nine one centers in America. We now cover fifteen just
over fifteen hundred of them, which is still quite an accomplishment,
but we've got a lot more to go. We're trying
to educate the nine to one community that it's easy,
it's free, and then we can get them access to
these locations. When people down now on one. So we're
(05:19):
working very hard and thanks to you getting the word
out to do this.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And you said free, So I mean the technology that
you're offering these people, these call centers is.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Free absolutely to public safety. It's it's a there's no charge.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And so tell me about the bigger idea of this company.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Obviously you're a location company. What can we see in
the future. Kind of paint that picture for me of
where this can all go.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, our mission is to improve emergency response. Now we've
got all these new technologies coming out of IoT devices,
everything from you know, many people are familiar with telematics
in their car when they if they were in an
axe and airbags are deployed, you know, it goes to
a call center. Well, now that data, that information could
go straight to the disc screen immediately to start emergency
personnel rolling to your So getting that information, there's always
(06:05):
been a disconnect in the nine to one network because
it was fifty years old. Getting data was very hard.
We can get voice to someone, but data was the art.
So now those that information will come to us and
we will pass that to the relevant dispatcher on a response.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So we have that are we there yet you have
that right now.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I mean, we're very close to having that, but we
our technology fully supports that. We're in the middle of
rolling it. Location was the most important thing when we
talk to public safety to solve but these other things
are very important. You're seeing these doorbell video cameras, You're
seeing smoke detectors now that connect to your WiFi. All
those can now send valuable information to a first responder
to have a better outcome.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So the reason I got a video camera in my
house was because I had just flown to New Jersey.
I get a text on my phone or a call
that hey, your fire alarm is going off at your house.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Now, my smoke alarm.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Was connected to the alarm system, but I said, oh
my gosh, I can't look inside my house to know
if it's actually on fire. And so it wasn't, thankfully,
but the police were outside the fire everyone and I
ended up getting a camera so next time I can
look in.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you're saying in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
When my alarm goes off, maybe it activates a camera
that someone can actually at the dispatch center check in
and see if you.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Authorize them to do that during that time of need yes,
they could. That's in theory. They can do that. Or
they may be able to see who's on your front
porch from your your doorbell camera. If there's someone that's
not supposed to be there, and you authorize that camera feed,
they could see that. In the first responder that comes
would also have that video to look for a suspect.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now, I like how you have all these you know,
if you authorize, I get it. There's so many it's
like a privacy nightmare for some people. But for me
and you, you kind of see the benefit of all
these things working together.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And it's an opt in approach. Nine one one has
always sent your location when you had a landline phone.
My grandmother's phone when she del now one, it's sent
the address to public safety. So now the only thing
is the wireless device is going to do the same thing.
So we had nothing's changed really there when we had
these other devices. It's got to be an opt in
where you say, hey, listen, I'm going to my fire
alarms going off. I'm worried. I'm okay with them taking
(08:03):
a look at that camera.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And I'm just painting a picture of the future. Let's
say I drive a Tesla and I get to an accident.
My phone is connected to that Tesla, so it's already
gathered that data that says, hey, I'm connected to a Tesla.
That tesla talks to my phone says, hey, the airbag
just went off. This is an electric vehicle. Here's I
don't know how much fuel it has in it, how
(08:25):
much electricity is left location of that device. You know,
whatever triggered inside that car could all theoretically be passed along.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
To the people that are helping me.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And you may not have even called nine to one,
and they may have that information immediately when you're when
you've gotten that accident, that information could be at the
dispatcher's screen. They could already be rolling personnel to help you.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Wow, and Los Angeles doing this one of the cities
at the forefront. Obviously, since we're here, you'd like to
see this in every city.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Absolutely, we'd like to have this rule because it's free
of charge and it's fairly easy to roll out. We
just need to educate the public safety community to go forward.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Throught more information on wrapping sos, you can go to
the website. Richon tech dot TV Jeff Robertson with Rabid SOS.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Thanks so much for joining me.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Thank you appreciate that I have more in the show
notes as well, so you can check them for more details.
And if you like this show, share it with your friends.
That's the best way that it will grow. I'm rich tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Thanks so much for listening. I'll talk to you real
soon
The new technology that's helping nine to one one call
centers get a better idea of exactly where you're calling from.
What's going on. I'm rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech.
Joining me today is Jeff Robertson.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He works for Rapid SOS. Jeff, thanks so much for
joining me.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So I saw this.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Announcement from both Apple and iOS twelve that they're building
in this new technology, and then also Google came out
a couple weeks later saying kind of similar stuff. So
when you call nine one one today, in many cases,
how are they getting our current location from a cell phone?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Currently? The way they use it, if you remember elgebra class,
they sort of get three towers and they try to
look at the speed of the signal to you. The
challenge with getting a location off that is, if you're
in a building where sixty five percent of all wireless
calls people are calling from inside a building, makes it
tough to put an accurate location. So the screen of
the dispatcher has a big circle sort of you maybe
somewhere in this could be one hundred yard, two hundred yard,
(01:01):
or sometimes even a mile radius that they have to
try to find you or talk you through to describe
where you are.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And with your technology. What happens with rapid SOS.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
We have worked with both the operating systems as you mentioned,
Apple's iOS twelve and Android, So when you dial nine
one one and hit send, it sends a data payload
to us, which we passed the clearing to the dispatcher,
so they see exactly where you are and in some
cases it'll even show what room you are and in
the building.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We're actually recording this year at one of LAPD's dispatch
centers for nine one one, and I saw the map
of kind of what a cell phone looks like without
the rapid SOS information versus what you guys offer, and
it's pretty different. I mean, yours is basically pinpointing the
location of the person versus the other one is just
kind of a guestimate.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, and the older method of trying to locate a
device was before smartphones were around. There is many different
sensors in both the Google devices and Android as well
Apple everything from they do an assisted GPS GPS, they
have pedometers which help with location. They have Wi Fi
sensors like the terminore and Bluetooth beacons, just to name
(02:11):
a few of the sensors they use all to improve
that location.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I know there's a whole side of privacy to all
this stuff, but when you're talking about nine one one
in particular, this is really valuable in saving lives.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Correct, And our rapid SUS technology only works when you
actually dial nine one one. Is when it activates and
sends that location. No one at the center can actually
key in your number and find out where that device
is without you actually dialing nine one one. But you're
absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So tell me what the change is.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So because Apple made this announcement in Google, you're actually
embedding your software at.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
The OS level.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Correct. We did some early trials. Rapid SS has been
around for just shy a six years. Our original idea
was to have an app running in the background, but
we just found with people having to load that app
if they got a new phone where they remember to
download it again. The public has been very well trained
in the last fifty years of now I want to
just dial now on one and we have always been
(03:09):
a proponent of not having the user have to do
anything in that time of need. So we worked very
closely with both Apple and Google, and they agreed to
have our technology right embedded in the operating system so
that when you're in that moment of need, you don't
have to remember to push a button, an app or
anything else. That location gets sent to the dispatcher when
you need help.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And that's a pretty big get for your company.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
It is. We worked very hard on working with them
and also educating them what it was like in the
front lines of public safety. We find a lot of
technology companies don't know what goes on behind the scenes
in many cases of how a nine to one calls taken,
how the technology works, or even the technology and the
cruiser as you're on your way to an incident or
(03:52):
a pumper truck for that matter. So there's a lot
of technology that happens in the way and we're trying
to improve that to speed up that response.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now, I'll be honest, I mean, I just kind of
assumed that when you called from a cell phone it
gave a pretty good idea of your location.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Did landlines give a better idea because it was linked.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, Back when I was on the job, we would
get nine to one callers. In the early days of
cell phones, the bag phones. If you remember when they
were on one of those devices, nay dial nine one.
A lot of times we would tell them to pull
over a payphone pick it up in dial nine one
so we could find out where they are because that's linked,
that's a physical address, and that line had a cable
that went all the way back to the phone company.
(04:30):
They knew exactly where it was, so it's very different.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
How do I know if this is on my device?
How do I have to activate it? Do I have
to do anything?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
In particular?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You just have to make sure you're on iOS twelve
or better from Apple and the Android is anything foreign above,
which is most phones today. Android is supported, so nothing
you should have to do.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So we saw this demo here at this location for
Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Does every municipality have this in place right now?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
No, your question. There are roughly about six three hundred
nine one centers in America. We now cover fifteen just
over fifteen hundred of them, which is still quite an accomplishment,
but we've got a lot more to go. We're trying
to educate the nine to one community that it's easy,
it's free, and then we can get them access to
these locations. When people down now on one. So we're
(05:19):
working very hard and thanks to you getting the word
out to do this.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And you said free, So I mean the technology that
you're offering these people, these call centers is.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Free absolutely to public safety. It's it's a there's no charge.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And so tell me about the bigger idea of this company.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Obviously you're a location company. What can we see in
the future. Kind of paint that picture for me of
where this can all go.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, our mission is to improve emergency response. Now we've
got all these new technologies coming out of IoT devices,
everything from you know, many people are familiar with telematics
in their car when they if they were in an
axe and airbags are deployed, you know, it goes to
a call center. Well, now that data, that information could
go straight to the disc screen immediately to start emergency
personnel rolling to your So getting that information, there's always
(06:05):
been a disconnect in the nine to one network because
it was fifty years old. Getting data was very hard.
We can get voice to someone, but data was the art.
So now those that information will come to us and
we will pass that to the relevant dispatcher on a response.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So we have that are we there yet you have
that right now.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I mean, we're very close to having that, but we
our technology fully supports that. We're in the middle of
rolling it. Location was the most important thing when we
talk to public safety to solve but these other things
are very important. You're seeing these doorbell video cameras, You're
seeing smoke detectors now that connect to your WiFi. All
those can now send valuable information to a first responder
to have a better outcome.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So the reason I got a video camera in my
house was because I had just flown to New Jersey.
I get a text on my phone or a call
that hey, your fire alarm is going off at your house.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Now, my smoke alarm.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Was connected to the alarm system, but I said, oh
my gosh, I can't look inside my house to know
if it's actually on fire. And so it wasn't, thankfully,
but the police were outside the fire everyone and I
ended up getting a camera so next time I can
look in.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you're saying in the future.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
When my alarm goes off, maybe it activates a camera
that someone can actually at the dispatch center check in
and see if you.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Authorize them to do that during that time of need yes,
they could. That's in theory. They can do that. Or
they may be able to see who's on your front
porch from your your doorbell camera. If there's someone that's
not supposed to be there, and you authorize that camera feed,
they could see that. In the first responder that comes
would also have that video to look for a suspect.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Now, I like how you have all these you know,
if you authorize, I get it. There's so many it's
like a privacy nightmare for some people. But for me
and you, you kind of see the benefit of all
these things working together.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And it's an opt in approach. Nine one one has
always sent your location when you had a landline phone.
My grandmother's phone when she del now one, it's sent
the address to public safety. So now the only thing
is the wireless device is going to do the same thing.
So we had nothing's changed really there when we had
these other devices. It's got to be an opt in
where you say, hey, listen, I'm going to my fire
alarms going off. I'm worried. I'm okay with them taking
(08:03):
a look at that camera.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And I'm just painting a picture of the future. Let's
say I drive a Tesla and I get to an accident.
My phone is connected to that Tesla, so it's already
gathered that data that says, hey, I'm connected to a Tesla.
That tesla talks to my phone says, hey, the airbag
just went off. This is an electric vehicle. Here's I
don't know how much fuel it has in it, how
(08:25):
much electricity is left location of that device. You know,
whatever triggered inside that car could all theoretically be passed along.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
To the people that are helping me.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
And you may not have even called nine to one,
and they may have that information immediately when you're when
you've gotten that accident, that information could be at the
dispatcher's screen. They could already be rolling personnel to help you.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Wow, and Los Angeles doing this one of the cities
at the forefront. Obviously, since we're here, you'd like to
see this in every city.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Absolutely, we'd like to have this rule because it's free
of charge and it's fairly easy to roll out. We
just need to educate the public safety community to go forward.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Throught more information on wrapping sos, you can go to
the website. Richon tech dot TV Jeff Robertson with Rabid SOS.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Thanks so much for joining me.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Thank you appreciate that I have more in the show
notes as well, so you can check them for more details.
And if you like this show, share it with your friends.
That's the best way that it will grow. I'm rich tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Thanks so much for listening. I'll talk to you real
soon
Host
Rich DeMuro
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