New York City Will Notify Millions by Cell Phone Within Minutes in Case of Emergency

In a recent press release, New York City announced that they will pilot an innovative new emergency notification system beginning in early 2008. Under this system, New York City will be able to notify millions of people within minutes of an emergency situation in NYC. The emergency messages will be sent to cell phones using cell broadcast technology. Even visitors will be able to get these emergency messages.

This system will use cell phone broadcasting. While people will not need to register or sign up for this service, there is an OPT-IN PROCESS that should be followed so that you can receive emergency messages. The details have not been released; most cell phone handsets have the ability to OPT-IN to receive the emergency messages. It is anticipated that details will be released to those in NYC at a later date.

What emergency information can be sent to people?
When there is an emergency situation in New York City, only people located in the geographic area affected by that emergency will receive the emergency notice. Officials can tell people what to do, areas to avoid, where to go to remain safe, or any other information that they want communicated to the general public quickly.

Why the cell broadcast system can work
This pilot program can be implemented due to the way that cell phone technology works. When we use our cell phones, our phones "connect" to the cell phone tower that is closest to us when we make a call.

Changing locations during a call
If we change locations during that call, our call may be shifted to a different cell phone tower. If we keep changing locations while we're on a call, whether we're in a car, train, or bus, we could use many different cell phone towers all during that one call.

This is the reason that sometimes our calls are clear and it is easy to hear. While other times calls are not clear and it is very hard to hear. A large metropolitan area, like New York City, could have thousands of cell phone towers.

Similar to reverse 9-1-1 emergencies
The emergency notice system will be similar to reverse 9-1-1. The same cell phone tower that we use to make a call can contact all cell phones is in its geographic area. The tower doesn't need a phone number, know who we are, or need any other information about us.

When there is an emergency situation, New York City officials can specify that a certain cell phone tower send an emergency notice to all cell phones in that geographic region of New York City.

"This emergency notification pilot program is a bold initiative that would have been very beneficial during New York City's recent steam pipe explosion, subway flooding and air toxins emitted from the Lower Manhattan fire. In each of these situations, those nearby could have received a cell broadcast alert with directions to safety, even if wireless traffic had crashed the networks," said Paul Klein, chief operating officer of CellCast, the company that will be installing the system.

Source:
http://media.prnewswire.com/