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New system will allow Manatee Co. 911 operators to better find cell phone callers

The new system will be online this fall following the release of Apple's iOS 12.

BRADENTON, Fla.- Manatee County’s 911 dispatchers will soon know your location even if you use your cell phone.

Dispatchers won’t have to ask for your address by using a new system called “Rapid SOS.”

The closest cell towers can currently narrow one’s location within 200 meters, but with Rapid SOS, emergency dispatchers can pinpoint a caller's location within six meters.

“With Rapid SOS using signals from cell towers and GPS … it can determine one’s wi-fi location, GPS location and altitude … it can tell if you are on the second floor of a building," said Jacob Sauer, Manatee County EMS director. "Even if you are not connected to the wi-fi location, it’s still reading your location."

Manatee County plans to have the new system out this fall once Apple's iOS 12 is released.

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