On Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:10:56 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article . com,
wrote:


Yes, the failure to work with 911 was a big problem until a couple of
years ago. My understanding also is that in most cases, it has now
been fixed and does work. But, I'm sure there are still some systems/
areas where it does not.


Kinda sorta. The way it works is that the software gives you the
ability to say where you are and then it will route it to the
(hopefully) correct 911 center. The problems include what happens if you
are somewhere other than home and forget to change your location (a
small but rather interesting subgroup). I haven't checked in the last
year or so, but last I did, it also did not include address information
in those areas that have enhanced 911. If you pass out or otherwise
can't communicate then they can't easily know where to send the help.

This is not really a problem. They only have to reposition the
satellite, use both optical and thermal sensing, and do a Graham
projection of the area around the signal. Then they run a Gresham
algorithm to enhance the projection, run a Peterson progression to
align this with the topographic databases to allow for elevation and
triangulation, and then they just send an ambulance to the person
lying next to the laptop.

That may have changed recently.

Yes, I guess the procedure above is recent. I've been so deeply
involved it seems like decades.