Nationwide wireless carriers alter proposed roadmap to improve location accuracy for indoor 911 calls

In addition, the carriers commit to populate the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) with the MAC address or Bluetooth reference data for location reference points “that are under their direct control,” the proposal states.

Recently, Public Knowledge and other organizations have expressed concerns about the privacy and security of location information in the NEAD, particularly for consumer-owned Wi-Fi and Bluetooth infrastructure. In the amended roadmap, the carriers commit to submitting a privacy and security plan regarding the NEAD to the FCC before implementation.

In the joint filing, the carriers also expressed concern about components of the draft order being circulated among FCC commissioners in preparation for next Thursday’s meeting.

“The draft order’s performance metrics on circulation, while well-intentioned, risk undermining a dispatchable-location approach and will not result in demonstrable progress, [because]:

“(1) the draft XY metric is not a reasoned ‘indoor-only’ proxy, in that it excludes satellite-assisted location technologies, which provide accurate fixes for many indoor calls, largely relies upon a single proprietary technology from NextNav, and excludes hybrid solutions such as Polaris, TruePosition and others that rely on GPS; and

“(2) the draft Z-axis metric applies to all calls, including outdoor calls that have no need for a vertical fix, thereby imposing unnecessary and excessive Z-axis requirements,” the carriers’ filing states.

Jamie Barnett, the director of the Find Me 911 coalition—an outspoken critic of the original carrier roadmap agreement—said he believes the carriers’ decision to offer an amended roadmap is an acknowledgement that the initial agreement with APCO and NENA had shortcomings.

“I don’t know why they would put this forward for any other reason,” Barnett said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

As for the dispatchable-location metric proposed by the carriers, the deployment of reference points such as Wi-Fi systems and Bluetooth beacons may be a step toward a solution, but that should not be used as the performance threshold for location-accuracy compliance, Barnett said.

“That is not really a commitment,” he said. “They’re just saying, ‘We’ll have the ability to do this,’ as opposed to actually providing a dispatchable address, and that was one of our problems with the previous [roadmap].

“This does not improve the roadmap. It is still really incredibly weak. It does not provide the accountability that has been missing from the FCC’s rules … There are just as many questions in this as there were in the [initial] roadmap.”

When the initial location-accuracy agreement with the carriers was announced, APCO and NENA representatives signed a joint filing with the FCC. That was not the case with the amended roadmap filed by the carriers yesterday. APCO and NENA each submitted separate filings from the carriers.