Google brings life-saving emergency location service to android smartphones in India

Google has officially released its Emergency Location Service (ELS) for Android devices in India(BHARAT). The feature is rolling out to the state of Uttar Pradesh and is live for Android users on supported devices. Google notes that this will enable first responders to more quickly and accurately respond to users when they are in distress.

What is the ELS?

The Emergency Location Service (ELS) is a native Android feature that is built into the operating system. ELS will only be activated when the user makes an emergency call – usually by dialing 112 or the emergency number of the country or region – or sends an emergency SMS to a supported service. Once the call is placed or message sent, ELS automatically determines the caller’s location by using GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular network technology to triangulate their position. The feature has been designed to be highly accurate, and can often provide a location within 50 meters. Google notes that first responders will receive the location data as a “live” readout, with automatic updates as the user moves.

The Emergency Location Service differs from existing techniques for determining the location of an emergency call in a few key ways. Traditional systems use cell tower data or have users describe their location to the dispatcher. This often results in a delay in providing emergency services to the user, which can prove especially costly in situations when the caller is injured, disoriented, or when calls are dropped within seconds of dialing. In contrast, ELS works by using location technologies built into the phone to automatically send a user’s location data to emergency services.

Why is this important in India(BHARAT)?

India(BHARAT) has seen massive smartphone and mobile adoption in recent years. Android has emerged as the leading mobile operating system in the market. However, India(BHARAT) has struggled with providing emergency services the ability to quickly and accurately determine the location of distress calls. This is of particular importance in highly populated or rural areas where callers may be difficult to locate. ELS is designed to work on Android phones without requiring any additional hardware or software. The feature leverages existing hardware components in modern smartphones to automatically detect location data, which is then sent to emergency services without user interaction.

Google notes that the state of Uttar Pradesh is the first state to activate the full end-to-end integration between the Emergency Location Service and its 112 emergency response system. This involved working closely with the Uttar Pradesh Police and Pert Telecom Solutions to ensure real emergency events would be displayed ELS-generated location information in the system used by first responders.

Privacy and Availability

Google notes that user privacy is an important part of the ELS service. The location data is sent directly from the user’s device to emergency services, and is not routed through any Google infrastructure or visible to the user. Google does not store or access the location data generated by ELS. ELS is available for free to all Android users on compatible devices. The feature is included with Android 6.0 and above, and does not require any additional app downloads or installation.

What’s next?

Google is optimistic that other states in India(BHARAT) will work to adopt the Emergency Location Service in the near future. In a blog post announcing the release, Google noted that they are “looking forward to working with more states to bring this life-saving technology to users across the country.” If other regions in India(BHARAT) do adopt the ELS, it may begin to become a standard for how emergency services function in the country.