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New York City kicks off GPS-based mobile emergency system

updated 11:50 am EDT, Tue May 10, 2011

 

NYC first with FEMA's PLAN mobile emergency system


New York City had the distinction on Tuesday of being the first to carry FEMA's new mobile emergency system and explained how it worked. PLAN (Personal Localized Alerting Network) will reach the city half a year before everywhere else and will give those with cellphones and other mobile devices a location-based warning of imminent threats. The system would help give the city a way of warning residents of a terrorist attack or a disaster by notifying just those most likely to be affected in a given area.

Each update is 90 characters or less and will include less urgent but still time-sensitive notices sent by the President or Amber Alerts for missing children. Phone users can unusually choose to block the notices for imminent threats and Amber Alerts, but not Presidential alerts.

The platform has the technical support of US cellular carriers, including the top four. Alerts will also be device-independent but will need device updates to make sure they can see PLAN notices.

New Yorkers should see PLAN active by the end of 2011, with the rest of the US on track to get it sometime in mid-2012.


By Electronista Staff

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industry, Verizon, sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, FCC, mobile phones, FEMA

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Previous Comments

  1. mr100percent

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Dec 1999

    -2
    05/10, 12:47pm | report spam | reply

    Privacy

    That's a pretty neat idea, and I can see a lot of great uses for it.

    HOWEVER, it's also a bit worrisome from a privacy perspective. If there's an announcement telling people below 14th street to beware of a terrorist attack or whatever, how will they know who to message unless the phone company or FEMA also has everyone's locations already listed in a database?

    Let's hope this stays an Opt-in feature.


  1. Inkling

    Junior Member

    Joined: Jul 2006

    -3
    05/10, 01:49pm | report spam | reply

    Politicized messages

    Who came up with this particular idea?

    "Phone users can unusually choose to block the notices for imminent threats and Amber Alerts, but not Presidential alerts."

    That's bizarre! Presidential alerts will be like Presidential addresses, meaning heavily tainted with political agendas. They are the one thing I'd want to block. Even if they happen to be something I need to know, by the time the White House sorts out what to say, it'll already be all over the news. Even the article notes that by pointing out that those alerts would be less "time-sensitive." If it isn't time-sensitive, if I'll already have gotten the message (in far more detail that 90 characters) from other sources, then don't cram it down our throats with this must-carry rule.

    Imminent threats I'd definitely keep active. I've got my weather alert radio set to notify me of those already. Amber alerts would be fine too, although there's little chance I'll be in a position to help.

    The real problem is that 90-character limit. In many cases, it's far too little to tell people what they should do. In fact, it may not even be enough to adequately describe a threat (say a toxic cloud from a railroad accident). In those cases, we'd be better off depending on trained emergency workers telling us what to do in person.

    There's also the classic 'email has no tone of voice' problem. Words without tone can cause some people to read more into them than it there. An imminent threat message would probably send about 10% of the population into a panic, creating a mess for the rest of us. It could make a disaster worse rather than better.

    *******

    Actually, we know who came up with this 'we must hear the President' idea. It's the heavily politicized hacks in the upper levels of FEMA. They may hop when a President says "Jump," but the rest of us would rather think for ourselves.


  1. cmoney

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: Sep 2000

    +1
    05/10, 02:39pm | report spam | reply

    Cell towers

    Wonder why it would have to be GPS-based? Wouldn't it be easier to have it broadcast through the appropriate cell towers and every user connected to the tower gets the message?

    Also, 90 characters should be enough for "R u close 2 WTC? GTFO! U won't regret it!"


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +2
    05/10, 03:36pm | report spam | reply

    Re: Politicized messages

    Who came up with this particular idea?

    "Phone users can unusually choose to block the notices for imminent threats and Amber Alerts, but not Presidential alerts."

    That's bizarre! Presidential alerts will be like Presidential addresses, meaning heavily tainted with political agendas.

    Presidential alerts are NOT presidential addresses, news conferences, statements, etc. Obama getting up and announcing OBL being dead would not be broadcast. A presidential ALERT is an ALERT that comes from the office of the president, which, I would think, would mean it was something extremely serious that affects the entire country. Say "We've just been attacked by the Japanese!". Or "There's been a terrorist attack in NY and DC. No information exists about where others might strike. Take precautions!"

    There's also the classic 'email has no tone of voice' problem. Words without tone can cause some people to read more into them than it there. An imminent threat message would probably send about 10% of the population into a panic, creating a mess for the rest of us. It could make a disaster worse rather than better.

    There should be no need for a 'tone of voice' with an 'imminent threat' message. What exactly could a tone do to keep 10% from panicking? If they're going to panic over a message, they'll panic whether its written or oral. Unless you think we should see the person to make sure they aren't smiling while stating the disaster that is about to befall you.


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +1
    05/10, 03:39pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    Re: Privacy


    That's a pretty neat idea, and I can see a lot of great uses for it.

    HOWEVER, it's also a bit worrisome from a privacy perspective. If there's an announcement telling people below 14th street to beware of a terrorist attack or whatever, how will they know who to message unless the phone company or FEMA also has everyone's locations already listed in a database?

    They don't know who's there. The gov't sends a statement to FEMA, who verifies the authenticity of it then sends it to the carriers.

    The carrier receives the notification and pushes it to the cell towers in the areas.

    The cell towers push the notification to all phones connected to said tower.

    It's a phone version of the Emergency Broadcast System/Emergency Alert System. Nothing more.


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +1
    05/10, 03:40pm | report spam | reply

    Re: Politicized messages

    Oh, inkling, it's a text message limited to 90 characters. What kind of political message are you expecting on that?


  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +1
    05/10, 03:52pm | report spam | reply

    Re: Cell towers

    Wonder why it would have to be GPS-based? Wouldn't it be easier to have it broadcast through the appropriate cell towers and every user connected to the tower gets the message?

    The GPS, if any, is on the cell carrier or FEMA side. The carriers use the GPS info to push it to the correct towers. But the signal is sent to the towers who send it to all phones hooked up.

    The way it is set up is to allow communication with as many people as possible. Thus it isn't a smart-phone thing or even a GPS-required thing. The simplest cell phone should work with it, as the warnings will come in as text messages. Technically they could make it backward compatible, but I think your phone will end up needing to support PLAN for it to work.


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