Starting today (May 13th), when Android users in Canada dial 911, their exact location will be automatically transmitted to emergency responders, thanks to a new service from Google designed to reduce response times and potentially save lives.

Google announced the Canadian launch of Android’s Emergency Location Service (ELS) on Monday, emphasizing its importance in improving the speed and accuracy of emergency responses. Boone Spooner, a group product manager for Android safety at Google, highlighted the critical role this service plays in aiding emergency dispatchers. “This is such a critical service to users because so often a call taker wouldn’t have gotten the location they needed to quickly and easily dispatch that help,” Spooner said. “This is a huge help to Canadian folks who are calling emergency services.”

The introduction of ELS in Canada is part of a broader effort to modernize the country’s emergency systems, which are transitioning from analog to digital to support next-generation 911 services. These upgraded systems aim to provide first responders with more comprehensive information, including text messages, medical details, and potentially even videos from the scene of an emergency.

The concept of the Emergency Location Service originated in 2018, inspired by a personal experience. “A developer on Android had an emergency and realized that the dispatcher didn’t know where she was,” Spooner recounted. “She thought, ‘There must be a way that I can solve this problem.’“

Before ELS, locating 911 callers relied heavily on landline technology or the caller’s ability to describe their location, which isn’t always feasible. Callers might not know their exact location or be able to provide recognizable landmarks, which can significantly delay emergency response times.

ELS addresses this by using a combination of Wi-Fi, GPS, and cell towers to determine a caller’s location. “The call taker will see a blue dot similar to what you would see on Google Maps, and that dot is the XY coordinates of the location of the user placing their phone call from,” Spooner explained. This technology can provide dispatchers with cross streets or even the specific building a caller is in. Additionally, elevation information is transmitted, offering a rough idea of which floor the caller is on if they are inside a building.

Importantly, the service only activates when a 911 call is made, and Google assures that it does not see or handle users’ locations. Android users will also have the option to opt out of the service, Spooner added.

Google estimates that ELS will be available on 99.9% of Android phones running version five or newer. The service is independent of the user’s cellular service provider, though Google partnered with BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. for the launch, as these companies provide Canada’s 911 network infrastructure.

To cover the costs of deploying ELS, BCE and Telus have sought permission from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to charge other wireless providers $0.0073 per subscriber per month.

The necessity of robust emergency services was underscored in July 2022, when millions of Canadians were unable to contact police, paramedics, and fire services due to a widespread service interruption at Rogers Communications Inc. Despite assistance from Bell and Telus, Rogers couldn’t transfer customers to competing carriers or automatically connect them to 911 services during the outage.

In response to such vulnerabilities, the federal government has mandated that telecom companies develop a backup plan to ensure continued access to emergency services during service disruptions.

Meanwhile, Apple introduced its Emergency SOS system to some iPhones in November 2022, allowing users to connect to emergency services via satellite when cellular or Wi-Fi service is unavailable, catering to those in remote areas.

This article was originally published on May 13, 2024, at 3:30 am ET.