Call 911, the phone will do the rest

摘要

When her BMW skidded off the road and plunged into a 10-metre-deep canal near Miami, Florida, in February 2001, the driver had time to dial 911 as her car slowly sank. "I'm not sure where I am," she told the emergency dispatch operator. With the emergency services unable to find her car, she drowned minutes later. Tragedies like this are galvanising those who want to see positioning technologies used automatically in all emergency communications. From cellphones that broadcast your position when you make an emergency call, to systems that remotely turn on your TV set to warn of local disasters, digital technology is now being harnessed to make people safer.