The Telegraph: Rescuers will soon be able to pinpoint your whereabouts in an emergency more quickly, thanks for a new location-based routing system for mobile phones

We’re excited to share this recent article from The Telegraph. For the article, author Charles Hymas spoke to our CEO, Ganesh Pattabiraman, about NextNav’s role in providing accurate vertical location data, to reduce response times and save lives in critical situations, including the Grenfell fire.

“It can help in a very tangible fashion. The biggest benefit when you dial 911 [the US emergency service number] is to reduce response times . ‘It is about locating people within what is known as the “golden hour” [the critical time within which emergency services can have the maximum benefit].’ The value of 3D mapping has been underlined by the US government’s decision to mandate all wireless operators of the 911 number to introduce technology that will allow emergency calls to be located to within three metres, to 80 per cent accuracy.

Technology could save 10,000 lives each year

A US government study estimated that a national system using the technology could save some 10,000 lives a year by reducing response times. It is not only Grenfell type incidents where it could come into play but also any emergency such as a heart attack patient calling 999 from a ninth Boor Bat. There are also possibilities for social media and gaming, according to Mr. Pattabiraman, in that “virtual” worlds could be overlaid onto high-rise “real” world locations.

You can read the complete article now on TheTelegraph.co.uk.