Accurately locating the position of a casualty during the time of emergency can be a question of life and death. Even though there are a lot of systems to locate the position accurately sometimes due to the various unavoidable factors they may not work properly. Not only for emergencies, but this is also even true for all sorts of navigation and location-based services.
We at VMEDO are trying to solve emergency related problems by providing emergency first aid knowledge, emergency tools, and connections via ambulances. We have our helpline through which we dispatch our ambulances across the country on demand.
Most of the time the calls we get to our helpline for ambulance service are normal phone calls where we get the address verbally. Sometimes we won’t be able to locate the casualty properly because of the limited information.
For example, once we got a call where the person told us to bring an ambulance to an address in Jayanagar since there is a Jayanagar in Bangalore we naturally thought the call was to Jayanagar Bangalore but in fact, the call was for Jayanagar, Mysore. These problems sometimes prove to be very fatal where the casualty might not get the proper care at the time of emergency.
We at VMEDO took this problem very seriously and as a solution designed our app in such a way where we can get the accurate location of the person calls through the app.
Here’s how it works
- Customer clicks on the call ambulance button of our application: We have an emergency button on the app, if the customer has our VMEDO app on his phone, he can click the button through which it connects our helpline.
- We get the call from that phone along with that we get that person’s GPS info: When the customer calls through the app we get the GPS info of where that person is at the exact moment.
- Using the location from GPS we can send the ambulance to the accurate location: We inform the nearest ambulance with phone number and GPS location to reach the scene of the emergency as soon as possible.
But there’s a problem with that too, during the emergency we can’t expect people to go to the application and use the ambulance button. Most of the calls we get for the ambulances are through our helpline number where people tell us the address verbally.
To solve this problem we at vmedo have been trying new things and now we’ve partnered with What’s3words (W3W), which helps us to know where the exact location is anywhere on earth without any confusions.
What is the W3W System?
What’s 3 words (W3W) is the most accurate location system available, in which the entire globe is divided into 3sq meter grids and a unique 3-word combination is given to each grid which never changes.
Here’s how we are solving the location problem by using w3w system
- When the customer calls his number will be recorded in our system: When the customer calls our number his basic details such as number, name, and requirements will be recorded in our Document management system
- To get to know his location a w3w location link will be sent to the customer: If the customer hasn’t called us through the application to get to know his location we’ll send an SMS with W3W link
- SMS will be received by the customer in the following way: The customer will receive the text on his number through which he had called us with instructions.
- Our helpline receives the 3 unique location words from the customer over call or SMS: When the customer clicks on the link he will get the 3 unique words associated with the location he’s in
- Our helpline executive will type the unique 3 words in the w3w system and receive the location of the accident :
- This location will be shared via SMS to the driver: The exact location which we obtained through the w3w system will be sent to the nearest ambulance which is recognized with us.
- The driver receives the location information: the SMS will be sent to the ambulance driver number and we’ll get the confirmation of the location received
- The driver will reach the required location to cater to the needs: The nearest ambulance driver who received the will reach the destination accurately.
We are very fortunate to have partnered up with w3w and we hope one day we can integrate the system into our app and provide the best quality and quick response ambulance service possible in the country.