151–160 of 268 posts
Oakland needs this help so badly. Call 911 on a cell in Oakland, and you're going to wait on hold for 30 minutes, most of which will be you being transfered to the wrong departments over and over. You start at a call center somewhere in middle America with a person who does not know where Oakland is. They pass you to CA CHP, who don't know Oakland either, because their dispatcher on the line is out of Sacramento. Fin…
I had to make a 999 call a few years back because I saw a woman faint and bang her head on a concrete pavement. Although I was in the local area which I know very well, it was really difficult - when put on the spot in an emergency - to describe my exact location.
This is an extraordinarily important and interesting “space” ripe for innovation. A few weeks ago, I was awarded one of the highest civilian public awards from the Commandant of the US Coast Guard in DC for my volunteer web mapping work during Harvey. That work helped coordinate 700 helicopter sorties and save 1700 lives. I’ve been thinking — and talking with Emergency Responders — about what an up to date 911 would…
The challenge for any private company is that the solution needs to be completely integrated into both the device and behavioral patterns need to be re-learned. For most people (in the US), calling 9-11 has been engrained since they were a child. In a moment of panic, it's the first or second reaction... not loading a 3rd party app. While not impossible, convincing Apple or Google to let you own "SOS+" capabilities would be a tall order...
Spot has succeed in the adventure market by owning the device and behavior change being easy to manage with no cell service. Just about everyone I know who has a mountain home, sailboat, or frequently travels to remote places – has purchased Spot.
If I was a VC, I would be interested in a roll-up strategy... GEOS and Spot aren't the only solutions.
This is an extraordinarily important and interesting “space” ripe for innovation. A few weeks ago, I was awarded one of the highest civilian public awards from the Commandant of the US Coast Guard in DC for my volunteer web mapping work during Harvey. That work helped coordinate 700 helicopter sorties and save 1700 lives. I’ve been thinking — and talking with Emergency Responders — about what an up to date 911 would…
I am, and it scares the hell out of me. If I have to choose between having emergency responders possibly not being able to locate me, and having the government be able to track my every move along with everyone else's, it's not even a hard choice: I'll take the former as by far the lesser of the two evils.
Being able to reliably hide my location is every bit as important to personal freedom as being able to encrypt my communications. If that means I have to take some additional steps to summon help in an emergency, so be it. It's a price I'll happily pay. Life's quality metric is a vector, and safety is not the only dimension.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is fucked. You should never have to wait for a 911 call to be answered. Our society needs to do better. Can you share any insight into how things got so bad? What failure of politics or market forces led to this situation? What needs to change before everyone who needs help can get it when they need it?
Improving the 911 EMS system won't improve police response time in Oakland because Oakland, like most of the US, has an ongoing shortage of police officers. There isn't any easy way to make the job of a police officer more attractive.
This is an extraordinarily important and interesting “space” ripe for innovation. A few weeks ago, I was awarded one of the highest civilian public awards from the Commandant of the US Coast Guard in DC for my volunteer web mapping work during Harvey. That work helped coordinate 700 helicopter sorties and save 1700 lives. I’ve been thinking — and talking with Emergency Responders — about what an up to date 911 would…
> Imagine! I am, and it scares the hell out of me. If I have to choose between having emergency responders possibly not being able to locate me, and having the government be able to track my every move along with everyone else's, it's not even a hard choice: I'll take the former as by far the lesser of the two evils. Being able to reliably hide my location is every bit as important to personal freedom as being able t…
Right or wrong, I think you're in the extreme minority here.
Edit: I'm not necessarily speaking for myself here, but then I'm in a low-risk area and demographic, so am not especially likely to need 911. But I think the average "man on the street" would not give a second thought about it.
This is an extraordinarily important and interesting “space” ripe for innovation. A few weeks ago, I was awarded one of the highest civilian public awards from the Commandant of the US Coast Guard in DC for my volunteer web mapping work during Harvey. That work helped coordinate 700 helicopter sorties and save 1700 lives. I’ve been thinking — and talking with Emergency Responders — about what an up to date 911 would…
> Imagine! I am, and it scares the hell out of me. If I have to choose between having emergency responders possibly not being able to locate me, and having the government be able to track my every move along with everyone else's, it's not even a hard choice: I'll take the former as by far the lesser of the two evils. Being able to reliably hide my location is every bit as important to personal freedom as being able t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Imagine! I am, and it scares the hell out of me. If I have to choose between having emergency responders possibly not being able to locate me, and having the government be able to track my every move along with everyone else's, it's not even a hard choice: I'll take the former as by far the lesser of the two evils. Being able to reliably hide my location is every bit as important to personal freedom as being able t…
Can’t the government already locate phones for missing persons? I don’t know if that requires a warrant or what, but I seem to remember hearing about locating the last “ping” of a phone to a tower for many missing persons cases.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It could be taught in preschools along with simple things like basic gun safety, swimming pool safety, and how to avoid perverts. Unfortunately all of these things are educational luxuries for the rare kid with parents that take the time to teach them to their kids. It seems like intelligent people could put together a laundry list of simple, easy-to-teach things along these lines that could be taught in schools for…
Taught in preschools... like basic gun safety :D Why does this seem like it should be wrong? XD I'm now imagining 5 year olds field stripping, cleaning and re-assembling semi-automatic rifles like miniature Marine snipers, hahahaha.