Maximize emergency resources and response by utilizing Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) capabilities.

National experience with AVL.

Date Posted
09/16/2005
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Identifier
2005-L00071

Speeding Response, Saving Lives: Automatic Vehicle Location Capabilities for Emergency Services

Summary Information

This document, one in a series designed to encourage decision-makers to invest their own budget resources in ITS, examines the public safety benefits of installing automatic vehicle location (AVL) technology on emergency vehicle fleets, such as ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles. The document contains interviews with chiefs of transportation, law enforcement, fire, and disaster recovery at cities, states, and private organizations around the country about the benefits they have experienced from using these systems.

Lessons Learned

Maximize emergency resources and response by utilizing Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) capabilities.



Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems relay the positions of emergency vehicles to a central location, allowing dispatchers to:

  • Quickly find the closest available unit to respond to a call
  • View all vehicles as they travel emergency routes and evaluate the route’s efficiency
  • Adjust directions to accommodate traffic conditions



"We know where all our emergency service units are at any given time. The system does not assume a truck is sitting in the fire station, but it actually dispatches the nearest truck based on where the trucks are at the time of the call." —Jim Arbagey, Fire Division Chief, Deployment Services, Phoenix Fire Department



With the increased coordination automatic vehicle location provides, emergency agencies are:

  • Expanding their service area and setting up links with other agencies
  • Increasing operating efficiency of existing vehicles and staff
  • Quickly addressing and resolving emergency situations



Information from AVL systems, when combined with computer aided dispatch software, can also provide a rich source of data for analyzing emergency vehicle operations and evaluating agency performance.