BRADENTON, Fla.- Manatee County’s 911 dispatchers will soon know your location even if you use your cell phone.
Dispatchers won’t have to ask for your address by using a new system called “Rapid SOS.”
The closest cell towers can currently narrow one’s location within 200 meters, but with Rapid SOS, emergency dispatchers can pinpoint a caller's location within six meters.
“With Rapid SOS using signals from cell towers and GPS … it can determine one’s wi-fi location, GPS location and altitude … it can tell if you are on the second floor of a building," said Jacob Sauer, Manatee County EMS director. "Even if you are not connected to the wi-fi location, it’s still reading your location."
Manatee County plans to have the new system out this fall once Apple's iOS 12 is released.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 10 News app now.
Have a news tip? Email tips@wtsp.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
