More than two-third of 911 calls come from wireless devices, which are not associated with a specific location in the way that landline phone lines are. Since 2014, the Federal Communications Commission has been in the process of laying out rules to increase the accuracy of wireless 911 callers’ locations, so that they can be more quickly found by first responders.
As the FCC sought to set its accuracy requirements, it needed information about the state of capabilities and what level of accuracy was possible, particularly in vertical location to locate callers in multi-story buildings, also known as Z-axis information. This is a new piece of information for wireless operators to deliver and for 911 call centers to accept and utilize.
