Emfinders Emseeq vs GPS in locating the critical missing
Posted by
Jim Nalley on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 @ 09:25 AM
When Chris Buehler I and started Emfinders it was to help those who needed it most, individuals with Alzheimer’s, dementia, children with autism, or any other member of society that would not or could not call for help when they need it. In the United States we are fortunate enough to have the best emergency location system in the world. Chris and I realized that and determined to use that system to help locate the lost.
The GSM carriers use network based location technology to provide a persons location whenever they call 911. This type of system works, in areas that other systems simply cannot. In a USA today article an executive with Verizon, which uses GPS to locate during a 911 call said, “But if you’re (calling 911) indoors, we suggest customers get close to the window” to improve GPS performance. It is really simple physics, the GPS system is based on satellites over 20,000 kilometers in the air. These satellites must still be able to have line of sight to the device it is trying to locate. Therefore when you are in a building a wooded area or urban setting those satellites will struggle to provide that location information. When you are driving or looking for a coffee shop that isn’t a big deal, but when you are trying to save someone’s loved one that just isn’t the system we wanted to trust. It works just like satellite radio, when you drive under a bridge or into a parking garage, the music stops, GPS is not the way to go in an emergency situation.
The other part of the equation is who is looking for your loved one when they need to be found. Every first responder I have ever talked to wants to help. They are amazing people that serve our communities and have a deep conviction to that service. They are specially trained too accomplish their job of brining someone in your care home if they are missing. Emfinders gives them the helping hand they need by providing the location directly into the 911 system. GPS systems on the other hand often rely on you the caregiver or loved one to open a website and locate them or try to relay that information to authorities. When a life is quite possibly in the balance, is the internet something we should trust? The answer is no. Plus, who has the staff if you are a care community that would have to be trained over and over again in its use. We wanted a simple system that just requires a phone call.
At Emfinders, we had three more rescues this weekend. The system is reliable and robust, and runs on a system that handles over 60 million emergency locates every year. It is why as founders, Chris and I used it instead of going the easy way and GPS. It is a solution we trust, and so should you.
