Software application development
This blog is intended to provoke discussion and exchange between like minded software application developers, engineers, architects, project managers - and keen hobbyists too.
Monday 15 September 2008, 9:36 AM
My 999 call mashup suggestion
Then suddenly, breaking the idyll and calm of the afternoon came a family crying out to me for help. A man had snapped his Achilles’ tendon and they didn’t know what to do.
Being a well kitted out geek walker I pulled out my electronic compass, pedometer, map, mobile phone and emergency jellybeans to offer the poor chap some sugar. Phoning 999 I then described our predicament and location to the call centre lady.
Me: “We’re on top of the North Downs, near Ranmore Common Road, close to the Boy Scout hut marked on Ordnance Survey map 123etc… and yes, he can breathe and is standing and lucid.”
999 lady: “Oh dear love, is that near the A24?”
Seriously, I couldn’t believe it – they asked me several times where I was. OK I know we were in the woods, but I was being very specific and surely the emergency services electronic map systems are integrated with the Ordnance Survey walking trails. Aren’t they?
If they’re not – what an obvious need for a mashup eh? Come to think of it, why weren’t the paramedics using some flavour of geo-location based service to pin point where we were?
Back in October last year I attended Yahoo India’s first open ‘Hack Day’ where developers were invited to mashup over maps, calendars or whatever they wanted. Tech staff were on hand (including David Filo himself) to encourage and coach throughout a single 24-hour block and the winner produced a map mashup app.
Specifically, the winner’s solution allowed detailed hand drawn direction lines to be placed over maps where no formal roads exist – something very common in India’s poorer areas. Precisely the kind of additional map detail that we needed yesterday.
PreviousComments on this post
First, Adrian, you are my hero! People can laugh and tease about those who go out hiking with such gadgets, but when the chips are down, there is no substitute for being well equipped - and knowing how to use it all!
Second, your suggestion sounds excellent. I would expect that the emergency services would be able to accept and resolve your location in just about any way you can give it to them. I wonder, if you had been able to give them simple geographic coordinates, latitude and longitude, would they have been able to deal with that? I hope so...
jw
Hey JW - nice one,
Geographic coordinates with latitude and longitude - yeah, why didn't I think of that? I was hoping for a Garmin for my 40th but I ended up getting a tent and tickets for Chris Cornell in concert. Either way, it spells a mid life crisis.
Seriously though, really good point. The walk was actually a sponsored thing for the British Heart Foundation. So why hadn't the organisers pre-alerted the emergency services that there would be a whole bunch of people trotting over the hills yesterday.
In fairness, Sunday was the first hot day we've had in ages - so I imagine everybody and their Grandmother was out falling over, cutting themselves and calling 999.
AdrianB
