In part one of our Understanding Enterprise E911 series, Josh Burch sets the stage with a fundamental explanation of what E911 is and what it does.
E911, which stands for Enhanced 911, is enhancement to the existing 911 service which provides location information along with the call to the public safety answering point (PSAP). It delivers the address of a caller and, depending on the technology used, could also relay XY coordinates (latitude and longitude format) delivered along with the call to the PSAP.
Basic 911 service required the caller to convey all location information verbally. With E911, the location information is automatically passed to the call taker so they can see that location on their call handling screen at the moment the call is received. E911 saves precious time during an emergency and is especially useful if the 911 caller is unable to speak.