North Texas city adopts new location identification app for emergencies
DALLAS – There's new technology that could change 911 as we know it – and a North Texas city is one of the first to adopt it.
For those emergencies where an address is hard to come by, the City of Plano has a solution. The new system helps detect where a person is calling from to almost an exact location.
What3words is a GPS tracking app that has mapped the entire world into 10-by-10-foot squares. Each square has its own three words that anyone can use to look up and find where they are. All they have to do is open the app, push the location button, and read the three words to authorities.
"Every day we get calls where people are not sure of their exact location and not sure about landmarks that are near," said Keysha Hogan, who works in Plano's 911 call center. "Also, there's a lot of different people that live, work and play in Plano, and maybe they're just not familiar with their surroundings."
For bike riders like Cory Blauser, such an app could prove extremely helpful.
"I commute on a bike and so I ride all over DFW," Blauser said. "I sold my car years ago because I just didn't have a need of it. And there are a lot of trails in the area that do have mile markers, but there's a lot of places that don't."
The app also offers words in 60 languages for those who don't speak English and can also be used among family and friends to find each other at large gatherings.
It's designed not only for those in hard to find areas, but also people trapped in floodwaters, kidnap victims along with critically injured hikers and cyclists.
