Without Haven: 24+ hours lost
In January 2017, David Crockett and Sultan Alraddadi decided to go for a hike in the North Carolina Woods and ended up getting lost. They did what anyone would do — they took out their cell phones and dialed 9-1-1. But like most people lost in the woods, they were unable to articulate their precise location to 9-1-1 and the dispatcher did not receive accurate location information from traditional 9-1-1 location mechanisms (a common challenge for cell phone calls to 9-1-1).
First responders began searching for the two hikers on Friday night — right after they called 911. After having little luck, and with rapidly dropping temperatures, 100 ground based rescuers and air resources were dispatched to help locate the two men early Saturday morning. According to ABC News 13, “A State Highway Patrol helicopter crew using thermal imaging found the pair shortly before 5 p.m.” the day after they initially called 9-1-1.
With Haven: 15 minutes lost
In December 2016, Harrison Dandrea decided to walk his dog at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The weather turned colder, it started to get foggy, and Harrison realized he could not see the path he came from. Unsure of his exact location and with poor cell service, Dandrea realized that placing a traditional 9-1-1 call wouldn’t get him the help he needed. That’s when he remembered he had downloaded the Haven app a few months before. Harrison used the app to contact 9-1-1 and within 15 minutes, a park ranger arrived at his location. According to WITN (NBC) Greenville, “Dandrea [said], ‘You’re just thinking of like the most craziest, scariest thing possible. I was so relieved to see the truck.’”
RapidSOS: Precisely Locating 9-1-1 Calls From Connected Devices
While the 9-1-1 community is working hard to improve their technology to obtain better location information, location is not always accurate or available for mobile calls. RapidSOS is working with the 9-1-1 community to provide precise location and additional data (medical, demographic, text messages, etc.) for mobile callers through the RapidSOS Haven app (App Store and Google Play). Additionally, RapidSOS is working with leading 9-1-1 software vendors and the largest tech companies to provide PSAPs with a free software patch to send precise location and additional data to 9-1-1, without the need for an app, through PSAP integration.
RapidSOS technology can also be integrated into any connected device to provide a direct data link to 9-1-1, without the need for costly call centers.
Want to learn more about RapidSOS? Request a demo today.