Definitions

A system used in North America that links emergency callers with the appropriate public safety access point (PSAP). In North America, where 9-1-1 was chosen as the easy access code, the system tries to automatically associate a location with the origin of the call. This location may be a physical address or other geographic reference information such as X/Y map coordinates. The caller's telephone number is used in various ways to derive a location that can be used to dispatch police, fire, emergency medical and other response resources. Automatic location of the emergency makes it quicker to locate the required resources during fires, break-ins, kidnappings, and other events where communicating one's location is difficult or impossible.

In North America the incoming 9-1-1 call is typically answered at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) of the governmental agency that has jurisdiction over the caller's location. When the 9-1-1 call arrives at the appropriate PSAP, it is answered by a specially trained official known as a Telecommunicator. In some jurisdictions the Telecommunicator is also the dispatcher of public safety response resources. When the call arrives at the PSAP, special computer software is used to display the location of the caller immediately upon arrival of the call.