Tag: Polaris Wireless 3D location platform

Polaris joins Mark43 on location-enabled dispatch for emergency departments

Polaris Wireless is partnering with Mark43 to integrate 3D location technology into computer-aided dispatch systems for public safety organizations. Polaris Wireless is a provider of software-based wireless location solution.

The joint solution will enable police and fire departments to track personnel and assets with pinpoint location, including indoors and in high-rise buildings, with floor-level accuracy. It delivers enhanced situational awareness and improved operational efficiency, which helps save lives and additional costs.

Mark43 Computer Aided Dispatch and Automatic Vehicle Location. (Screenshot: Mark43)

Mark43 is a cloud-based public safety software provider. Its Mark43 CAD software provides mobile field units with precise information on laptops or tablets inside a vehicle. Built on AWS GovCloud, Mark43 works with police and fire departments to make sure web-connected units stay mobile in the cloud.

With the addition of 3D location, command and control centers can direct firefighters to the correct floor in a structural fire or ensure SWAT teams enter at the correct floor of a high-rise building. In more routine situations, such as tracking officers or equipment in a large municipal headquarters, 3D location helps increase efficiency and allocate resources more wisely.

Mark43 is purpose-built in the cloud to support interoperability with third-party systems and devices. This enables the Mark43 CAD to seamlessly integrate with the Polaris Wireless 3D Location Platform, which is cloud-based and available to application developers via a standard Android and iOS Software Development Kit (SDK).

The platform relies on Polaris Wireless’ 3D location technology, which is able to locate devices on the vertical axis within 3 meters, floor level, utilizing all available signals and sensor measurements combined with the company’s patented algorithms.

Screenshot: Mark43

By operating independently, or “over the top,” of wireless carrier networks, the platform is universal, enabling applications to locate any device on any network — an important consideration when police and fire departments operate devices across several networks.

“Giving command and control centers full visibility into first responders’ locations is crucial when it comes to emergency dispatch, where every second counts,” said Scott Crouch, Mark43 co-founder and CEO. “We are always aiming to integrate the best possible capabilities into our suite of offerings, and we look forward to working with Polaris Wireless to increase safety and efficiency for our first responders.”

“Our 3D location is enabling new use cases in public safety applications with our partnership and integration into Mark43 CAD systems,” said Amir Sattar, senior vice president of operations for Polaris Wireless. “Dispatching police and firefighters to the precise location, including the correct floor number, represents a major advancement for public safety and a significant benefit for the communities they serve.”

Polaris Wireless and Mark43 are exploring opportunities to trial the application with public safety organizations.

Attendees at the NENA 2019 Event (June 14-19) in Orlando, Florida, can visit Mark43’s booth #321 to learn more.

June 13, 2019
3D location platforms aids hotels, public safety indoors

Orion Labs has released Advanced Location Services, a high-accuracy, carrier-independent 3D location platform delivered via Polaris Wireless.

The service provides enterprises and public safety agencies with pinpoint location, indoors and in high-rise buildings, with floor-level and room-level accuracy, a difficult challenge in such GPS-denied environments.

Orion indoor location example (Screenshot: Orion Labs)

The system enables customers to locate team members on the vertical axis accurate to three meters’ distance, to keep teams better-informed and better-connected, enhance team performance and improve worker safety. It works via Orion Sync, a standalone smart walkie-talkie, or as device as a service, in a smartphone form factor.

“For our hospitality and retail customers, this offers the opportunity to greatly improve guest services and the experience they deliver. For public safety and healthcare customers, the integration has the potential to save lives,” said Jesse Robbins, founder and CEO.

According to co-founder and CTO Greg Albrecht, “With 3D location tracking, hospitality teams can easily pinpoint where their guest service workers are located and identify the right team member for faster guest response for tasks like bringing up clean towels to a guest, fixing a TV or lightbulb in a guestroom, or clearing trays and carts,” he said.

The system also protects lone workers. “When lone workers call for help, security teams can rapidly dispatch assistance without the lone worker needing to explain their location,” Albrecht said. “This is the same kind of technology that first responders are now adopting to accurately and rapidly locate 911 callers facing life-threatening situations.”

Hotel workers suffer work-related incidents at a nearly 50% higher rate than other industries. (Photo: Dean Drobot/Shutterstock.com)

Hotel workers suffer work-related incidents, encompassing physical injuries, medical emergencies, theft and sexual harassment, nearly 50 percent more than is the average across all other industries. Large metropolitan hotels can approximate small cities, with as many as 5,000 rooms, 12,000 guests, and 8,000 employees. Even a moderate-sized hotel can have hundreds of employees scattered across many floors, some remote from central operations. Locating employees quickly is key to preventing or minimizing incidents.

Need maps. A fundamental challenge in developing 3D location awareness indoors is the need for accurate, detailed 3D renderings of the physical buildings themselves.

“For most buildings, this has never been done before and is often an arduous task to accomplish,” Albrecht added. “However, there is a mapping process to allow for precise data points to be leveraged within the Orion platform. It’s a very simple task that can be completed even by the hotel staff at the time of setup. After that, it’s extremely simple to set up teams within the Orion System with a 3D view of their property that they can use.”

The latest integration is undergoing tests at locations in Las Vegas and San Francisco, with more than 50 locations actively using the set-up.

In March, Polaris Wireless, a provider of software-based 3D location solutions to wireless operators, law enforcement and government agencies, and location-based application companies, announced the commercial availability of its high-accuracy carrier-independent 3D location platform for application developers.

In early 2018, Polaris Wireless participated in the CTIA’s Test Bed LLC Stage Z independent vertical location testing in San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago, achieving floor-level accuracy.

June 10, 2019
Polaris Wireless launches 3D location platform for app developers

Polaris Wireless, a provider of software-based wireless location solutions, announced the commercial availability of a high-accuracy carrier-independent 3D location platform for application developers. By integrating their applications to the new platform, developers can provide end users with pinpoint location, including indoors and in high-rise buildings with floor level accuracy, delivering enhanced situational awareness and improved operational efficiency, according to the company.

Polaris Wireless has integrated its new platform with Orion Labs, Inc., a San Francisco-based company delivering instant and secure voice and location communication.

The Polaris Wireless 3D location platform is cloud-based and is available to application developers via a standard Android and iOS SDK. It can locate devices on the vertical axis within 3 meters, floor level, utilizing all available signals and sensor measurements combined with the company’s patented algorithms. By operating independently, or “over the top,” of wireless carrier networks, the platform is “universal,” enabling applications to locate any device on any network.

“Orion’s customers in hospitality, retail, healthcare, and public safety require pinpoint accuracy on a person’s location inside a building. Polaris Wireless’ platform helps us deliver that location capability, both for teams to see which floor they’re on or room they’re in, as well as to integrate location awareness with Orion Voice Bots and advanced AI-driven services,” said Jesse Robbins, Founder and CEO of Orion Labs.

Orion will demonstrate its solution based on the Polaris Wireless 3D location platform at the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) in Las Vegas March 4-8 in booth No. 3371.

Polaris Wireless CEO, Manlio Allegra, will be participating in an IWCE panel titled “Impact of Enhanced Location Accuracy on Public Safety and 911 Services” on Wednesday, March 6 at 11:45 a.m.

March 5, 2019