Advanced Mobile Location

Advanced Mobile Location (or AML) is an emergency location-based service (LBS) available on smartphones that, when a caller dials the local (in country) short dial emergency telephone number, sends the best available geolocation of the caller to a dedicated end-point, usually a Public Safety Answering Point, making the location of the caller available to emergency call takers in real-time. AML improves the time taken by emergency call takers to verify the location of callers and can improve the time taken to dispatch an emergency response.

AML was standardised by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Emergency Telecommunications Subcommittee (EMTEL) in 2019 as Technical Specifications.[1]

History

AML was developed in the United Kingdom by British Telecom, EE Limited, and HTC as a solution to problematic caller location in emergencies.[2] When a person in distress calls the emergency services with a smart-phone where AML is enabled, the telephone automatically activates its location service to establish its position and sends this information to the emergency services via an SMS.[3] The services uses either a global navigation satellite system or WiFi depending on which one is better at the given moment. It was estimated that this technique is up to 4000 times more accurate than the previously used system.[4]

Implementations

Google announced in July 2016 that all Android phones running version 2.3.7, Gingerbread (released in December 2010) or later include AML. Google calls their implementation Emergency Location Service (ELS).[5]

Apple devices running iOS 11.3 (released in March 2018) or later also support AML.[6]

As of March 2020 AML was deployed in:[7] Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.[8] Australia planned to implement AML in 2020.[7]

Several countries around Europe are testing AML with the aim of deploying it by 2020.[9] The European Electronic Communications Code mandates that all EU states must implement AML by December 2020.[10]

AML also works on Android phones in some countries when using their emergency SMS service.[11] As of March 2021, all smartphones sold in the EU Single Market will have to be equipped with AML, following a delegated regulation supplementing the Radio Equipment Directive.[12]

Functionality

AML automatically turns on Wi-Fi and location services on the handset, collects and computes location data, then sends an SMS to the emergency services containing the caller's location, before turning location services and Wi-Fi off again.[13]

The service can also send the data via an HTTPS POST request to the specified endpoint. The country implementing AML decides whether to use an SMS endpoint or an HTTPS endpoint or both.

References
  1. "Emergency Communications (EMTEL);Transporting Handset Location to PSAPs for Emergency Calls - Advanced Mobile Location" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  2. "UK shows the way towards accurate caller location – An example for others to replicate!". www.eena.org. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  3. "BT, EE and HTC develop 'life-saving' mobile phone location service for 999 calls". www.v3.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  4. "Advanced Mobile Location pinpoints 999 calls to within 30m". ComputerWeekly. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  5. Kannan, Akshay (25 July 2016). "Helping emergency services find you when you need it most". Google. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  6. "iOS 11.3 is available today". Apple. 29 March 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  7. Beatriz Peon (27 December 2019). "Best of 2019: AML — a game changer for emergency services". Comms Critical.
  8. "AML is now deployed in the Netherlands!". Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  9. eena112 (2019-04-26), EENA2019 - Advanced Mobile Location, retrieved 2019-05-04
  10. "AML Report Card published: development around the world". Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  11. eena112 (2019-04-26), EENA2019 - Advanced Mobile Location, retrieved 2019-05-04
  12. "Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/320". Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  13. "Advanced Mobile Location". Retrieved 2019-05-04.
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