Emergency Calls

Here in the marine world, virtually all marine VHF radios have a "panic" button which sends out a distress signal *which includes your location*.

And that nowadays virtually all cell phones have GPS capability, the really obvious follow-on is this:  Why do not all cell phones have this same capability?  A single button press calls 911 *and includes your location*?  IPhones will already dial 911 if you press the sleep/wake button rapidly 5 times or more...  why not have the phone add the GPS location to the call?

This seems like a no-brainer to me.  If the 911 call centers need help in adding digital location capability, I am sure the Coast Guard would be willing to share their technology.  And if not, I guess the phone could always transmit the location via voice synthesis, but that seems awkward and error-prone.

If you think this is a good idea, please share it widely - your action may be the one that causes this capability to appear.

Emergency Calls