IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

But there is good news as well, and an example is Escambia County, Fla., which installed a new mapping system that pinpoints 911 calls that originate from cell phones. The FCC requires that 67 percent of wireless calls be located within 50 meters. That may not be helpful if the caller is in a building with many stories like an apartment complex or office complex.

Technology and call-taker standards and training vary by state and locality, where counties and cities, even those next to one another, sometimes have varying requirements. To make matters worse, the current fiscal environment, where governments at all levels are feeling pain, is forcing some states to raid surcharges collected to pay for new 911 technologies in order to fund other initiatives. Other states are stifled by companies that provide emergency call center equipment that doesn't connect with other vendors, therefore impeding the move toward next-generation 911.

But these analog systems -- some built half a century ago -- have been left behind by technology advances, such as text, video and photo. But those new technologies aren't easily integrated into 911. For instance, calls from mobile phones take longer than land lines to route because it's hard for 911 call centers to pinpoint locations of wireless and IP-based phones. And in an emergency, every minute matters.

At the various call centers -- known as public safety answering points (PSAPs) -- trained operators answer emergency calls and dispatch police, firefighting and ambulance services.

In 2009, the San Jose, Calif., Police Department upgraded its call center technology to improve redundancy and simplify retrieval of recordings, which can provide critical evidence in criminal cases. While the department has yet to deploy NG911 in its call center, these capabilities will be added in the future. So the current information management upgrade also prepares the department to capture and preserve multimedia content.

Launched in early March, Miami 311 pulls data from the telephone-based system and displays it on an online map. Residents can view an average of 4,500 issues in progress on the map instead of a list and filter searches based on type of request, date, district and status, according to Stuart McKee, Microsoft national technology officer. Using the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, Bing mapping and Silverlight, Miami 311 was created by two people over an eight-day-period, with no up-front costs, according to a city press release.

The Emergency Mass Notification System will notify residents of severe weather and crime alerts from the sheriff’s office and police departments.

Phone numbers for the alerts are taken from public records. Residents who have an unlisted number or use cell phones as their main number can register to receive the notifications.

After going live this summer, the center's new CAD system from Global Software Corp. gives dispatchers access to address histories, records from law enforcement agencies and lists the availability of officers and units. Perhaps the biggest upgrade is the map-based software, which traces landline calls for dispatchers and triangulates cell phone calls within three meters.

The system, which is available by phone and through the Web, was launched by Bloomberg's administration in March 2003, and designed with support from Accenture.

According to the mayor's office, the 311 Customer Service Center has exceeded industry standards by handling more than 100 million calls, with 87 percent of calls answered in 30 seconds or less, at an average answer speed of 15 seconds. Open year-round 24/7, the call center takes more than 50,000 calls per day.

To do so, the county implemented the Reverse 911 emergency notification system, designed to improve countywide alerts about severe weather, hazardous material incidents, natural disasters, fires and public health threats.

Managed by the Cameron County Emergency Communication District (CCECD), emergency management coordinators believe the technology will expedite public safety responses in Cameron County, and help residents avoid the common problems that plague cities during catastrophes.

The Open311 API (Application Programming Interface) project combined the efforts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle and numerous other cities, which will all have access to the Open311 later next week.

These upgrades include implementation of next-generation 911 using advanced Internet protocols for 911 call delivery, data management and potentially the future integration of social media.