Five cities test high-tech 911 system

Five cities across the USA are testing a new national 911 system that would allow communications with police and other emergency personnel by text message and take advantage of the latest technology to pinpoint accident scenes. Call centers in Rochester, N.Y; Bozeman, Mont.; King County, Wash.; St. Paul, MN; and Fort Wayne, Ind., began testing the Department of Transportation's Next Generation 9-1-1 system in June with the goal of replacing the four-decades-old technology that governs how the nation's 6,000-plus 911 call centers operate. Under the new system, emergency personnel could more quickly pin down the location of a call from a wireless network. The nation's 911 call centers would be more uniform and networked so that a call to a busy or incapacitated 911 center could instantly be routed to another center acting as a backup.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080709/a_new91109.art.htm