Airwave launches world-leading location tracking service for public safety organisations

Airwave, the leading mission critical voice and data communications provider, today launches its world-leading location tracking service, Collaborate. For the first time, Police Forces, Fire & Rescue Services and Ambulance Trusts will be able to proactively share their GPS location data using a truly scalable and secure national platform without having to install new hardware or software.

Collaborate, using big data technology, will deliver a level of intelligence to customers that has not been seen before. Real-time analysis of more than one billion records generated each month will enable more efficient, evidence-based decision making.

Unlike any other location tracking capability, Collaborate is available to all blue light agencies, who can share real-time location data with each other, on a permissions-only basis, without having to deal with the cost and challenge of installing, testing and maintaining new IT systems, as it uses the existing Airwave Network and the existing Airwave service management portal.

Sussex Police are one of the first customers to use the new service: “We are excited about the potential for efficiency gains across the force using the Collaborate service,” commented Chief Superintendent Wayne Jones, Head of Communications Department, Sussex Police. “We have worked with Airwave to develop real-time dashboards which show how often police officers return to stations during the course of a shift. This highlights opportunities for more efficient resourcing patterns, which will ensure our officers remain more visible in Sussex. In addition, we will be deploying Collaborate as part of the Sussex and Surrey ‘Blue Light Collaboration’ project, which means location information for key resources will be shared between Police Forces, Fire & Rescue Services and Ambulance Trusts.”

Airwave has invested more than £1 million in secure, big data technology for Collaborate, which will deliver a level of intelligence to customers that has not been seen before. Real-time analysis of more than one billion records generated each month will enable more efficient, evidence-based decision making and immediately identify opportunities for greater efficiency.

“The entire proposition is secure and designed so that customers can choose exactly what information they want to share. Ultimately, it’s all about using evidence-based decision making to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your resources whether they are vehicles, or radio users in the field. The importance of seeing, in the control room or in the field, where resources are at all times – even those of neighbouring users – means that you can easily see which responders are the closest to an incident, match current demands, cut response times and reduce disruption,” says Euros Evans, Chief Technology Officer, Airwave.