Suggestion: Emergency button for Nav

**DaKyy** · 08-16-2006, 04:18 PM

I was driving to work with my co-worker the other day when a little white VW Caddy passed us on overtaking lane. Couple of seconds and a smoke cloud later a moose decided to meet the Caddys front fender. Moose did couple of somersaults to a ditch and ran off. As I was the only one not in a so-big-panic I had to call the emergency number. Luckily I know the area and could quite easily tell where the accident was. Also the only casualty was the moose this time.

Though I started wondering if this would've happened in a strange place, how could I remember the last intersection we had crossed, let alone the road number in that situation. Then I thought CF's NAV could have an "Emergency Button" which would display the coordinates and the road number, maybe even the next/last intersection and distance to it. It would be on its own window with big clear fonts.

The coordinates are easy to put to CF but I'd think the problem is the coordinate format - how we know what formats the emergency exchanges use? I checked out that here in Finland it is something like this:

Latitude N 60°20.457'
Longitude E 022°42.204'

I googled and found this on coordinates http://makeyourownmaps.com/coordinate_format.htm
So the above format would be "Degrees°Minutes.Minutes"

So the format should be configurable? What do you guys think? I haven't even thought about this until the 'real deal' happened to me and I had to call for emergency...

**meddler** · 08-17-2006, 08:43 AM

this is an interesting idea. I just hope it doesn't get used to often.

**DaKyy** · 08-21-2006, 04:36 PM

Well I guess its just me then.

**White 'van' Man** · 08-21-2006, 05:38 PM

Umm....

What about a system that takes info from the obd2 (say airbag or seatbelt pre-tensioners) and sends location info automaticaly (via text message) to a pre-determined number.... this could be used to inform the emergency services in the event of an accident at a remote location (lone driver) if say the system had no intervention after a pre-set time....

Just a thought....

Later Dudes....

**kbreeden** · 08-21-2006, 05:39 PM

It's an interesting idea. With screen real estate being as important as it is, however, it may be overkill in light of the fact that one can easily find one's current coordinates with just a couple of button pushes.

**kbreeden** · 08-21-2006, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by White 'van' Man

Umm....

What about a system that takes info from the obd2 (say airbag or seatbelt pre-tensioners) and sends location info automaticaly (via text message) to a pre-determined number.... this could be used to inform the emergency services in the event of an accident at a remote location (lone driver) if say the system had no intervention after a pre-set time....

Doesn't Onstar do essentially that?

**MadStu** · 08-21-2006, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by DaKyy

Well I guess its just me then.

I think that's an excellent suggestion and I've often thought it should be implemented. It would not only be handy for emergency services, but also if you're on the phone to a colleague or boss and they want to know your position, you could tell them quite easily.