It’s easier for 911 operators to locate a caller when the call has been made using a landline but it takes more time to do that when a call is made using a cellphone. As you can probably imagine, more people make such calls using their cell phones now than ever before which is why there’s a need to help 911 locate mobile callers more effectively. This is where Google comes in.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google has conducted a trial to see how its technology can be used to help 911 operators locate callers more accurately. The trial covered tens of thousands of 911 calls over a period of two months in multiple states. The report mentions that the trial’s results were encouraging.

The test was done in partnership with West Corp. and RapidSOS, both companies have connections into 911 centers. Wireless carriers are mainly responsible for providing location information under the existing 911 system but it leaves a lot to be desired as far as accuracy is concerned.

According to RapidSOS, Google’s technology served more accurate location data within the first 30 seconds in about 80 percent of the calls during this trial. It also helped operators shrink down the estimated radius of a call’s location from 522 feet to 121 feet.

Time is a very precious commodity in emergency scenarios and the faster help arrives, the more chance people have of making it through that emergency. Google’s location technology is offered in 14 countries currently and work is now being done to hopefully bring it to the United States later this year.

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