The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials urged...

the commission. “APCO has frequently urged the Commission, wireless carriers, and location technology providers that improvements must be made in location accuracy for 9-1-1 calls made from indoor locations,” the group said, saying it plans to take part in the Oct. 2 workshop. “More and more American homes are ‘cutting the cord’ and relying exclusively on wireless devices for all of their voice communications. Recent data suggests that nearly a third of U.S. households may no longer have wireline service.” The “predominant” technology for most of the calls is Assisted GPS (A-GPS) APCO said (http://bit.ly/18q16aO). “However, as the technology implies, A-GPS relies in large part on having direct line-of-sight for GPS signals, which do not penetrate buildings well in most cases,” the group said. “Thus, it is indisputable that a wireless 9-1-1 call from an indoor location will generally provide significantly less accurate location information than a call from an outdoor location.” The International Association of Chiefs of Police (http://bit.ly/1bGg95g) said the commission’s Communication Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council has looked at “evolving indoor location accuracy technologies,” which “represent a significant advancement and offers consumers and first responders a valuable tool to improve the capabilities of our nation’s public safety system.” The International Association of Fire Chiefs said it’s time for the FCC to update its wireless location accuracy rules. “Currently, the FCC’s rules establish an automated location information and accuracy standard for PSAP calls and contacts, including those initiated using wireless handsets outdoors, but not for wireless calls initiated indoors,” the group said (http://bit.ly/17139nd). “The majority of emergency calls placed to Emergency 911 are made from indoors and large and growing shares of emergency calls are made from wireless communication devices."