Ambulances being sent to the wrong places

Quaderno

Hi, this is my first post in this section.

As many of you will probably have heard another child died this week with problems in locating the right address being a possible contributing factor.
I don't have any more information on this than what is publicly available (http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/hse-extends-sympathies-to-family-of-deceased-tralee-infant-following-ambulance-delay/), so I am not going to speculate.
But I wonder if some insiders here may be able to shed some light on something that really bothers me. My question:

I know from being a radio amateur of many years that there are well established locator systems around, namely the Maidenhead System which breaks down any location into a system of letters and numbers and gives a unique code for each grid square. Such an (existing) system would seem to be ideal to make locating casualties a lot easier and more efficient than what is used now. As a random example, the locator code for the GPO would be IO63UI83SU, and the format of the code would be similar for every single point in Ireland (or, in fact, in the world), 10 characters long. Given that it would be difficult to get everybody to know "their" locator, would you think that a standardized system like Maidenhead or similar would be of any help in your (emergency services) job?
And connected, maybe some ambulance crew member knows whether or not the GPS in the ambulances in use today would already support Maidenhead locator codes? I know some might, but I have no idea what systems are currently in use by the HSE and other services in Ireland. Thanks!

ibebanging

There is no GPS in HSE ambulances.

The incident is being reported as cot death so I don't think the ambulance was going to make a difference now matter how long it took.

And until we get postcodes things like this will keep happening. In a situation like this the call taker is dealing with somebody who is going through a major traumatic experience. They may not have given an accurate address. The address in cork may have been the only one on the system or the first one to come up and the call taker unwittingly inputted this address. It happens. And until we have post codes will happen again. It's a regular occurrence for AGS in Dublin but thankfully I've yet to encounter it in a life/death situation.

kub

A friend in fire service told me sometime ago that if someone rang 999 and said ' fire on Main Street' and for whatever reason got cut off. Then the call taker would turn out units to all of the villages and towns in which ever area of the country that control room is covering.
I am not at all trying to guess the outcome of any enquiry or anything like that, i am just wondering is this procedure still in practice?

timmywex

kub wrote: »

A friend in fire service told me sometime ago that if someone rang 999 and said ' fire on Main Street' and for whatever reason got cut off. Then the call taker would turn out units to all of the villages and towns in which ever area of the country that control room is covering.
I am not at all trying to guess the outcome of any enquiry or anything like that, i am just wondering is this procedure still in practice?

Haha unfortunately not....

Someone else will ring, some counties will barely turn out to small fires nowadays such are budget cuts

ratracer

As stated above, until postcodes are brought in this will continue to happen. In Galway, the city council in their infinite wisdom decided during the boom that every new development had to be named in Irish. Now imagine emergency calls coming in from panicked people for whom English isn't their first language. All the place names sound similar, dispatchers send fire/ambulance/gardai to the wrong town/village/area. Happens a bit. Spare a thought for the guys eventually turning up copping an earful from the people for taking half hour to get there. Ah but its all ok as long as the councillors are seen to be supporting 'the heritage'

Bang Bang

To the original poster 'Quaderno',
Your thread title "Lifes lost due to ambulances being sent to the wrong places"

Your title appears to place the blame of the death of a person with the Ambulance Service. Do you have any factual evidence to back up your title? As in can you state accurately that the death of a person or certain persons is because the ambulance was sent to the incorrect address?

Quaderno

Bang Bang wrote: »

To the original poster 'Quaderno',
Your thread title "Lifes lost due to ambulances being sent to the wrong places"

Your title appears to place the blame of the death of a person with the Ambulance Service. Do you have any factual evidence to back up your title? As in can you state accurately that the death of a person or certain persons is because the ambulance was sent to the incorrect address?

My intention was not to place the blame for the death of that unfortunate child or indeed any other person with the ambulance service. I am sorry for choosing a title that could suggest otherwise, although I made it very clear in the actual posting that the delay may only possibly have been a contributing factor and that I was also not going to speculate any further on the matter since I didn't have any more information on the case.
My intention for opening the thread was to discuss a possible way to avoid situations like the one this week in Tralee in the future, since for the foreseeable future other solutions like the postcode system will most likely not be available. That's the formal part of my answer.

Now the personal one:
By saying that I am trying to "place the blame of the death of a person with the Ambulance Service" you managed to set up a nice distraction from the actual problem. You are trying to blame me for pointing out something that should see every citizen and parent in the country, but particularly everyone working in the emergency services running riot. In my view it's pure luck that so far no deaths (at least none that I know of) can be attributed directly to avoidable mistakes in the several organisations involved in the coordination and running of the rescue services in Ireland. This may change, though, and instead of playing the blame game people should stop and think about the actual problem. I does absolutely not matter if the child would still have died with the ambulance arriving in time nor is it the merit of the ambulance service that it might not have made a difference anyway. Sending an ambulance to the wrong county should set off some serious thinking. And fast. That's what my posting was about.

Quaderno

ibebanging wrote: »

There is no GPS in HSE ambulances.

Thanks. That's rather sobering.
Still, I found that something very similar to the idea I proposed is actually in use here, although it is probably not much help to the actual ambulance crew out on the road: http://www.geodirectory.ie/What-is-Geodirectory/Case-Studies/emergency-services.aspx

seven_eleven

Happens quite often, especially in rural areas.

only a few weeks ago http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ambulances-sent-to-wrong-areas-by-new-control-centre-29312108.html

This is why I've made the effort to note the number of the road I'm on. If you can tell the 999 operator that your village/house is on the R537 or L2294 then its a HUGE help. (I would imagine so at least).

And yes, post codes really are the way to go in my opinion.

lycan238

Ok will post my 2 cents on this.

firstly the address given needs to be as specific as possible. For example 'main street' could be 2 miles long however '13 main street, across from the post office' is a more specific address and therefore easier to find. Also a driver with local knowledge of the area will find the address much quicker than say a person not from the area.

I will give an example of this. I know where nearly all of the estates are in my local town but ask me about the next town and there are estates I do not know or even knew they existed and its only 6ish miles up the road from me.

Secondly regarding finding addresses easier yes a postcode system would make things much easier but would take a tonne of work to develop and implement.

Bang Bang

Quaderno wrote: »

My intention was not to place the blame for the death of that unfortunate child or indeed any other person with the ambulance service. I am sorry for choosing a title that could suggest otherwise, although I made it very clear in the actual posting that the delay may only possibly have been a contributing factor and that I was also not going to speculate any further on the matter since I didn't have any more information on the case.
My intention for opening the thread was to discuss a possible way to avoid situations like the one this week in Tralee in the future, since for the foreseeable future other solutions like the postcode system will most likely not be available. That's the formal part of my answer.

Now the personal one:
By saying that I am trying to "place the blame of the death of a person with the Ambulance Service" you managed to set up a nice distraction from the actual problem. You are trying to blame me for pointing out something that should see every citizen and parent in the country, but particularly everyone working in the emergency services running riot. In my view it's pure luck that so far no deaths (at least none that I know of) can be attributed directly to avoidable mistakes in the several organisations involved in the coordination and running of the rescue services in Ireland. This may change, though, and instead of playing the blame game people should stop and think about the actual problem. I does absolutely not matter if the child would still have died with the ambulance arriving in time nor is it the merit of the ambulance service that it might not have made a difference anyway. Sending an ambulance to the wrong county should set off some serious thinking. And fast. That's what my posting was about.

I am not placing the blame on you for anything. I stated that your title appears to place the blame on the Ambulance Service. You even admit yourself that your title may too suggest so.

LeinsterDub

If only there was a system of letters and numbers which could identify your location and if only we weren't promised it 4 or 5 times since 2002

Quaderno

Bang Bang wrote: »

I am not placing the blame on you for anything. I stated that your title appears to place the blame on the Ambulance Service. You even admit yourself that your title may too suggest so.

Ok then. After having figured out how to change the title I deleted the misleading part together with the embarrassing typo in the first word.
Just to make my point clear and close this matter: I have the highest respect for all you guys being out there day and night saving lives. Making that even harder by sending ambulances around the country with no purpose while their help is desperately needed elsewhere doesn't help anybody.
Sorry for the harsh tone in the last reply, but this really is a serious issue and I hope it will never become a personal one for anybody again.

Bang Bang

I have to add that a lot of media out there, tabloids and others are always ready to jump on the bandwagon and blame the HSE and the National Ambulance Service when there are delays in an ambulance reaching a scene. I have even seen Emergency Medical Controller/Dispatchers (EMC/EMD) come under attack too from news media because of this.

Yes certain types of post coding will help, maybe the installation of sat nav devices in ambulances but there are other factors which add to the delay in an ambulance arriving at a scene/home or business address.

Many times a caller, stricken with emotion dials 999 or 112, asks for an ambulance then hangs up without giving a location. The EMC tries and tries to call them back but often to no avail. They will liaise with BT to try pinpoint where the call came from, all adding to the delay.

Lack of names on newly built housing schemes. Many schemes built during the 'boom' times carry no names on the entry to the estate. Apartment block complexes can be a nightmare to locate the correct apartment.

People not having numbers on their doors, yes it's very common and a huge problem for the emergency services.

People blocking street name signs by parking their car or wheelie bin in front of it.

Vandalism, a large number of not so affluent areas have an element of vandal that feel they need to deface and destroy the street names in their area.

And last but by no means least, the use of ambulances as 'taxis' or a the myth that you will be seen quicker, trust me you won't be seen quicker if you arrive in the Emergency Department by ambulance if it's a minor problem. So when calling an ambulance for a minor ailment ask first if your problem can be sorted by your GP or doctor on call service or can you make your own way or can somebody drive you to the ED to be seen.

One ambulance tied up with a minor problem is one ambulance less to respond to a major life threatening illness or injury.

Old diesel

Awful tough, horrible situation for the family of that poor baby .

Quaderno

Quaderno wrote: »

Ok then. After having figured out how to change the title I deleted the misleading part together with the embarrassing typo in the first word.
Just to make my point clear and close this matter: I have the highest respect for all you guys being out there day and night saving lives. Making that even harder by sending ambulances around the country with no purpose while their help is desperately needed elsewhere doesn't help anybody.
Sorry for the harsh tone in the last reply, but this really is a serious issue and I hope it will never become a personal one for anybody again.

Unless the 999 call is released we are not going to know what led to the Ambulance being dispatched to the wrong county. But from the facts out there so far, a foreign national and a traumatic experience may have been a factor. And as I said earlier simple human error could have caused the problem too.

I can't see it being too hard to implement a post code system here. There is already detailed and accurate address mapping tools in use here. And don't forget loc8 codes are available too.

McWotever

Post codes will jeopardise An Posts monopoly on postal services by eliminating the need for the postman's local knowledge.

Who was given the job of introducing post codes? An Post.

I think this is a major influence on why we don't have a post code system.

matt-dublin

Iif calling from a fixed line they already know where you are, if calling from a Mobil and you a at Main Street you're a numpty. Especially in an emergency you need to be providing as much information as possible.

In a medical emergency you shouldn't hang up the phone regardless and wait to receive instructions from the person on the other end.

NeonCookies

Would having the GPS coordinates of your house to hand be helpful? My family and I were talking about this earlier and because we live in a rural area it is something we're worried about, especially in a situation where a few minutes is life or death. We're thinking of sticking them to the wall next to the phone. There's no name on our house, it's just a townland name.

Edit: Or is it as matt-dublin said above that if we called from the landline they'd already know our location?

matt-dublin

NeonCookies wrote: »

Would having the GPS coordinates of your house to hand be helpful? My family and I were talking about this earlier and because we live in a rural area it is something we're worried about, especially in a situation where a few minutes is life or death. We're thinking of sticking them to the wall next to the phone. There's no name on our house, it's just a townland name.

Edit: Or is it as matt-dublin said above that if we called from the landline they'd already know our location?

They will get your details from your phone number but might not be able to find it!

I'd be surprised if HSE ambulances didn't have at least basic sat nav in them

GPSParamedics

matt-dublin wrote: »

Iif calling from a fixed line they already know where you are, if calling from a Mobil and you a at Main Street you're a numpty. Especially in an emergency you need to be providing as much information as possible.

In a medical emergency you shouldn't hang up the phone regardless and wait to receive instructions from the person on the other end.

This is not necessarily true. Calling from a fixed line will not give an address in all cases, this is only true in some specific cases.

GPSParamedics

seven_eleven wrote: »

Happens quite often, especially in rural areas.

only a few weeks ago http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ambulances-sent-to-wrong-areas-by-new-control-centre-29312108.html

This is why I've made the effort to note the number of the road I'm on. If you can tell the 999 operator that your village/house is on the R537 or L2294 then its a HUGE help. (I would imagine so at least).

And yes, post codes really are the way to go in my opinion.

Yes, having the number of the road you live on can help, but also noting the nearest landmark and knowing the main town/village in each direction can help with directions too. For example: After you come through ballybruff heading towards x village on the R111 the house you are looking for is 1 mile down the road on your right hand side, outside the house there is a gold eagle on the pillars and a red toyota avensis in the garden.

Another handy tip; if you call an Ambulance during the evening or night time is to put your hazard lights on in your car & tell the emergency medical controller "I've put the hazards on in my red toyota car and mary is standing at the gate waiting to wave you down with a torch in her hand".

Preparedness by callers like having your full address written next to your landline along with directions to the house from each direction will help. Always include your county if you think it might be a difficult address e.g. 123 Blue Lane, The cedars, Ballygreen, Cork.

Also by teaching your kids (where applicable) and young adults what to do in an emergency, and even by having your full address next to the phone it will save time.

GPSParamedics

NeonCookies wrote: »

Would having the GPS coordinates of your house to hand be helpful? My family and I were talking about this earlier and because we live in a rural area it is something we're worried about, especially in a situation where a few minutes is life or death. We're thinking of sticking them to the wall next to the phone. There's no name on our house, it's just a townland name.

Edit: Or is it as matt-dublin said above that if we called from the landline they'd already know our location?

Unfortunately, GPS is not something that is available to every Ambulance crew at this moment in time. However, having a full address next to the phone, along with directions to your house from multiple directions (Ask the Emergency Medical Controller which direction the Ambulance will come from) will help to save time.

As another user has said, if you know the local route number e.g. R111 or similar, this can also help. The nearest landmark and locally known places e.g. the Yellow Pub after the village will help, too.

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

They will get your details from your phone number but might not be able to find it!

I'd be surprised if HSE ambulances didn't have at least basic sat nav in them

If there is one it's the crews own.

GPSParamedics wrote: »

This is not necessarily true. Calling from a fixed line will not give an address in all cases, this is only true in some specific cases.

Well here are details of the BT service which is running in this country. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/19139-ireland-launches-new-999

But it will only be requested if no address is given.

Guys, I have viewranger on my phone. If I needed to, would an accurate OS grid reference be of use over te phone to ye?

GPSParamedics

foreign wrote: »

If there is one it's the crews own.




Well here are details of the BT service which is running in this country. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/19139-ireland-launches-new-999

But it will only be requested if no address is given.

CLI can be very effective for the initial connection to the appropriate emergency service control centre (Ambulance, Fire, Garda, IRCG). Not sure what service you are from, but you might be aware of it's faults.

mathepac

seven_eleven wrote: »

Happens quite often, especially in rural areas.

only a few weeks ago http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ambulances-sent-to-wrong-areas-by-new-control-centre-29312108.html

...

I can give a first-hand example where an elderly man died on the street outside McKeogh's Supermarket in Ballina, Co. Tipperary because centralised ambulance control in Dublin

1. disputed the fact that there was a Ballina in Co. Tipperary
2. couldn't decide whether an ambulance from Nenagh or Limerick (or even Ennis) would get there quickest
3. as I was trying to administer CPR to the dying man they kept ringing me back for more information.

A local control centre would have been on the case immediately, understood the geography, distances, traffic flows at the time of day and so on and would certainly have known better than to try to talk to the solo attender at the scene. Two wonderful off-duty nurses and a local doctor eventually joined me, but the man's family rang me next day to say he had died.

I understand that an ambulance from Limerick was eventually dispatched, Limerick at 5:00pm being the wrong ambulance centre to pick.

GPSParamedics

GPSParamedics wrote: »

CLI can be very effective for the initial connection to the appropriate emergency service control centre (Ambulance, Fire, Garda, IRCG). Not sure what service you are from, but you might be aware of it's faults.

AGS. And the emergency call taker stays on the line for all calls other than AGS. For mobile calls the give the mast that the call came from. Never had to use the landline option.

GPSParamedics

foreign wrote: »

AGS. And the emergency call taker stays on the line for all calls other than AGS. For mobile calls the give the mast that the call came from. Never had to use the landline option.

If the ECT you are referring to is ECAS,yes.

seven_eleven

Deleted User wrote: »

Guys, I have viewranger on my phone. If I needed to, would an accurate OS grid reference be of use over te phone to ye?

If I remember correctly a few years ago a small microlight plane crashed in Tipperary and the ES were having a hard time finding them. One of the occupants was seriously injured, but the other one who rang 999 used his iphone to give some sort of co-ordinates which was what located them.

however, the coast guard SAR helicopter was involved, so I doubt it would be any use to another orginisation such as NAS without navigational equipment.

Bang Bang

mathepac wrote: »

I can give a first-hand example where an elderly man died on the street outside McKeogh's Supermarket in Ballina, Co. Tipperary because centralised ambulance control in Dublin

A local control centre would have been on the case immediately

So you are stating that a person died in Tipperary because of the Dublin Ambulance Control??
That is certainly a strange one because Tipperary is not under the juristiction of the Dublin Control, it is still under the command and control of it's old Control Room.

So would you care to elaborate on this "First-hand example"?

The term 'Jumping on the Bandwagon' springs to mind:rolleyes:

Bang Bang

Deleted User wrote: »

Guys, I have viewranger on my phone. If I needed to, would an accurate OS grid reference be of use over te phone to ye?

Grid references are useful when contacting the Dublin Control room, although ambulances don't carry sat-nav devices the EMC can make use of the reference and pinpoint it on the new system.
An example was a road traffic accident some months back in the Dublin-Wicklow mountain range, the person making the call did not know the name of the area they were in. They utilised the mapping on their smart phone and passed the information to the EMC. Ambulance Control could then pinpoint the location and respond and ambulance.

SpaceTime

It's not just lack of postcodes though, Irish addressing is completely weird and largely chaotic and unfit for purpose.

multiple places with exactly the same name. areas known colloquially and officially by multiple names. Non unique addresses where there's only a town land covering a huge area.

then you've lack of house numbers displayed or assigned in a lot of urban areas and apartments and office complexes that don't use a street number. so you get something like Apt 3 SnootyVille House, Mount Street...

Bilingual addresses too.

We need actual geolocation codes, not post codes as we have no system of addresses underlying it at all.

Any new system essentially has to provide a geographical location without the need for a street address at all!

It wouldn't necessarily replace the colloquially addresses we have but you'd be able to use whatever daft address you liked provided you also included a code.

A conventional postcode in the continental sense won't solve it.

St. Leibowitz

There are actually two location systems that I know of, loc8.ie and gocode.ie.

I have the loc8 and gocode codes by the phone, along with the OS grid reference for my home. Not sure if NAS, garda and fire service calltakers have Internet access, but if they can go to loc8.ie or whatever, and put in my reference, they'll see my house on the map, accurate to a few meters or so.

Is this useful ?? Do the calltakers have Internet access, or is it a waste of time ??

SpaceTime

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

There are actually two location systems that I know of, loc8.ie and gocode.ie.

I have the loc8 and gocode codes by the phone, along with the OS grid reference for my home. Not sure if NAS, garda and fire service calltakers have Internet access, but if they can go to loc8.ie or whatever, and put in my reference, they'll see my house on the map, accurate to a few meters or so.

Is this useful ?? Do the calltakers have Internet access, or is it a waste of time ??

They should have access to Internet as even Google maps has property names now. it's better than most other alternatives at finding unnumbered houses and obscure addresses

GPSParamedics

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

There are actually two location systems that I know of, loc8.ie and gocode.ie.

I have the loc8 and gocode codes by the phone, along with the OS grid reference for my home. Not sure if NAS, garda and fire service calltakers have Internet access, but if they can go to loc8.ie or whatever, and put in my reference, they'll see my house on the map, accurate to a few meters or so.

Is this useful ?? Do the calltakers have Internet access, or is it a waste of time ??

Relying on the loc8 & gocode alone wouldn't be advised, although they are useful not every EMC (Emergency Medical Controller) has internet access at his/her desk. Ideally integration of this type of code into the mapping system would work wonders.

Directions to your house from several directions and also the full address written next to the phone will also be helpful.

mathepac

Bang Bang wrote: »

So you are stating that a person died in Tipperary because of the Dublin Ambulance Control??
That is certainly a strange one because Tipperary is not under the juristiction of the Dublin Control, it is still under the command and control of it's old Control Room.

So would you care to elaborate on this "First-hand example"?

The term 'Jumping on the Bandwagon' springs to mind:rolleyes:

When I queried who was ringing me the response I got was "central ambulance control". Whether "central ambulance control" is located in Laois or Lagos I don't know and don't care, all I know is that where-ever they are, on the day they failed their patient.

Bang Bang

mathepac wrote: »

When I queried who was ringing me the response I got was "central ambulance control". Whether "central ambulance control" is located in Laois or Lagos I don't know and don't care, all I know is that where-ever they are, on the day they failed their patient.

But you stated that the man died because the control room was in Dublin when it wasn't. Are you now changing the reason you believed that man died?

What was that term again, 'Jumping on the Bandwagon' was it:rolleyes:

searescue

Another one:

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/ambulance-called-for-seriously-ill-tralee-man-goes-to-the-wrong-address/

Hope they look at all these incidents and address them before moving the other counties control to Dublin.

gctest50

searescue wrote: »

Hope they look at all these incidents and address them before moving the other counties control to Dublin.

Can't blame anyone in a control centre anywhere if :

".............some of the names do not appear on any map."

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ambulances-sent-to-wrong-areas-by-new-control-centre-29312108.html

Old diesel

okay - im in North Cork - in a rural area - I ring 999 in an emergency for an ambulance - how do I get the ambulance to come out to the right address with this new control centre.

Hopefully the system will recognise elements of my address - ie the village name that's part of my address.

But if it doesn't - what then???.

Yes I can give directions - but if the guy is going to turn around and say that the place names I mention don't come up on the computer and thus do not exist - then we aren't going to get anywhere

Would expect that Sat Nav would be able to figure out where my nearest village is - even if that Sat Nav system is in the control room rather then the ambulance.

Big question for me - is how do other countries overcome this issue - like say Scotland which has a a lot of remote rural areas.

anydroid

Am very surprised (... or am I?) that the various depts and stakeholders involved in emergency dispatch haven't got their game together and established an integrated approach to dispatching emergency services.

As ESB can apparently identify every property in the country (and their maps have informed everything from rural broadband to property tax) perhaps people should quote their ESB account when they need help!

More seriously... if the IT to make this happen is in use elsewhere, then what the heck have our people been up to?

(cue inter-agency fact-finding trips to Canada/Australia.... as the whatever the Brits use will be ipso facto unsuitable)

searescue

anydroid wrote: »

Am very surprised (... or am I?) that the various depts and stakeholders involved in emergency dispatch haven't got their game together and established an integrated approach to dispatching emergency services.

As ESB can apparently identify every property in the country (and their maps have informed everything from rural broadband to property tax) perhaps people should quote their ESB account when they need help!

More seriously... if the IT to make this happen is in use elsewhere, then what the heck have our people been up to?

(cue inter-agency fact-finding trips to Canada/Australia.... as the whatever the Brits use will be ipso facto unsuitable)

Well said, similar in this county that the council water services have a device that tells you the owner of the property as you drive past it - surely combining databases together would be a good start?

matt-dublin

there's a data protection issues all over the place with that statement.

sharing the databases in itself is a data protections issue that the commissioner would need to legislate on.

also if these devices do in fact exist, I straight away would be lodging a complaint with the data protection commissioner because that in itself constitutes a breach of regulations from what I know.

matt-dublin

matt-dublin wrote: »

there's a data protection issues all over the place with that statement.

sharing the databases in itself is a data protections issue that the commissioner would need to legislate on.

also if these devices do in fact exist, I straight away would be lodging a complaint with the data protection commissioner because that in itself constitutes a breach of regulations from what I know.

and how is it a breech if the data owner is the one using it? AGS use the An Post product for addressing. No names, just address.

Einstein

There's also been about 4,000 calls in just over a month... Funny how good news and success stories don't make the news...

Capri

I use http://www.dishpointer.com/ to find my location ( Say I'm at Blackrock DART stn, it's location according to Dishpointer is
Latitude: 53.3030°
Longitude: -6.1786° ,
so why not map out postcodes using Lat + Lon - Blackrock DART stn would be Dublin 5330-0618 , or the GPO Latitude: 53.3494°
Longitude: -6.2607°
would be Dublin 5335-0626 .

India and the US use similar long numbers

Mumbai - August Kranti Marg - 400036

Holllywood - 90068 -

discus

Lat and long is old technology compared to GPS though.

Tango Alpha 51

mathepac wrote: »

When I queried who was ringing me the response I got was "central ambulance control t.

I work in this control room & this would never be said. It's either ambulance control or emergency ambulance service.

GPSParamedics

Tango Alpha 51 wrote: »

I work in this control room & this would never be said. It's either ambulance control or emergency ambulance service.

Neither of which are correct.