The winner of the Garage48 public services competition 112 Mobile allows emergency calls to be placed without calling the dispatcher centre. The new service is characteristic of a trend toward more innovative solutions in emergency response centres and in the area of administration of the Ministry of the Interior in general.

The prototype for the 112 Mobile service was developed by a five-member team comprised of Maarja Mõtus, Mihkel Güsson, Jens Kasemets, Tanel Ainla and Steve Perkson. The service consists of an alternative to calling an emergency dispatcher – now visually and hearing impaired people can also get help by sending a message to the emergency centre or pressing a big red “panic button”.

The location of the person in need of assistance is displayed on the map and the person and the operator can exchange short text messages. A webcam image can also be sent to the emergency centre. The app, which is for iPhone and Android telephones has met with positive interest from disabled people.

The ice in terms of enthusiasm is melting

One of the members of 112 Mobile, Tanel Ainla, said the idea of integrating emergency response in a manner other than voice telephony and fax dawned on them a few years ago. Back then it was proposed to the Ministry of the Interior as a civic initiative –Ainla’s company Teadusmosaiik was poised to become the service developer – but officials did not show particular enthusiasm. Two years later, the idea was brought to life at Garage48 and it met with a great amount of attention.

“Our goal was to show that it was possible to address many issues specifically with smartphones, such as a preset user interface based on a particular user’s health problem, or displaying a big red button on the screen that can be used to summon the Rescue Board, or a caregiver or neighbour,” said Ainla. “It can also be used in non-standard hazard situations, such as allowing the disabled – or a person who has been gagged by a kidnapper, say – to summon help.”

Ainla says the 112 Mobile app actually stands a chance of being implemented in Estonia, as it has met with positive interest from the Rescue Board.

The Ministry thinks about it

Ministry of the Interior spokesperson Kristina Leer says that the ministry and the response centre are thankful that the Garage48 event took on a modern solution that disabled people can use to summon emergency services. In the near future, meetings with the 112 Mobile team are planned to discuss cooperation.

Some wags have said that even if the service could be developed scot-free and in 48 hours, the state would order a similar service (SMS emergency service) from the market for more than 300,000 euros and it would only be ready by late 2011. But of course, an emergency service needs to undergo thorough reliability testing before implementation, and the 112 Mobile application is not yet ready for that.

In future, when the application starts paying off, Ainla says it is not ruled out that the team will go into business for themselves and pitch the solution to other markets as well.