And where Is the money to put a sat nav in every garda car, ambulance and fire tender going to come from.

If they want to find it they should buy their own gps they hardly cost the earth these days

Why stop there. Why not use their own cars to go to the call.

just posted above article to their facebook page, I use them for all post and deliveries that I get. I used to use their previous version, An Post have started to use them as well.

just for info:
http://www.myloc8ion.com/index.php/maps/find_code8/?code=NP6-30-C13

http://www.myloc8ion.com/index.php/maps/find_code8/?code=NP6-30-C13

They are really smart post codes.. You wouldn’t even need an address, just the post code. Really useful for GPS, I’m really liking Loc8

Of Ireland it should read.

Loc8 Codes are a 7 character variant of grid/geographic coordinates with an 8th checker code added to avoid mistakes. These are already supported on popular navigation devices and via a free web service and are already in use by many organisations. A Loc8 Code could be delivered to every housholder in a matter of weeks if rolled out as a national system. In the meantime vulnerable people/those in rural or difficult to find places can have a Loc8 Code immediately at no cost from the website at http://www.loc8code.com. Generate it and keep it by the phone – Ambualnces and Paramedics already have the technology that can use Loc8 Codes and those handling 999 calls have easy access to finding the exact location of any Loc8 Code.

It is amazing how tolerant the Irish people are – Post codes were promised for Jan 2008 and never happened – then another promise for Jan this year which equally passed without progress – and all efforts so far have come to nothing – why – well it is still proposed by the Dept of communications to deliver a postcode which would only guide an ambulance to the centre of 50 properties – i.e the centre of a housing estate, industrial estate or townland – this will be of no advantage to the emergency services whatsoever and for this reason there are many objections. It is this type of broad area addressing solution that has contributed towards unnecessary loss of life in Ireland with many recent examples like this in the Irish Times recently : http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1108/1224307208449.html

The proposed wide area postcode is only suitable for a national mail sorting agency (not for private mail sorters) and as such it is no more than an Irish version of a 1950’s solution – just 60 years late having ignored all the GPS, Smartphone and Mapping, technology advances since.

Both Labour and FG made election promises that they would reverse the last Government’s 50 property plan once in Government but this has never happened – probably because Minister Rabbitte is having difficulty undoing efforts rushed into place by Dept of Communications officials before fall of the last Government. Strangely, a proposal by FG to add the words “precise and unambiguous” to the legislation authorising the establishement of a postcode this year but this was over-ruled by Pat Rabbitte leaving the legislation only requiring an area based postcode.

It seems that postcodes, like many other things in Ireland, will be another case of us copying old technology (60 years old) and allowing civil servants over rule technology and innovation developed by Irish businesses. Nearly €1 million already spent on postcodes and nothing delivered except reports which have been ignored. Another €15million proposed for spending on postcodes and if it ever happens, emeregency services, tourists, couriers, private mail services and commercial drivers will get no advantange what so ever.

Loc8 Codes are already in use by State Agencies and are funded and promoted by Enterprise Ireland – anyone can have and use a Loc8 Code right now – no need to wait another 6 minutes let alone 6 years!

Not everyone knows their gps co-ordinates !! In particular the elderly ?!

Distressed Elderly Punter: Help, please send an ambulance, my husbands collapsed, I think it’s a heart attack or maybe a stroke…

Emergency Services: Of course ma’am, could we just have your GPS coordinates please?

Distressed Elderly Punter: What?

As someone who has had to call the emergency services, I can say there is no way I would be able to give a satnav reference. The reception can be patchy, you can be at a road accident in teaming rain with cars whizzing past, you might be under a bed with the room burning around you, or you might be watching your nearest and dearest having a heart attack in front of you.

This is cork city.. 51°53′50″N 8°28′12″W
So the call would be Fifty One Degrees, Fifty Three Minutes, Fifty Seconds North, Eight degrees, twenty eight minutes, twelve seconds West. Wha…. repeat it?

Indeed.

In fact, the emergency services could have a database of map locations paired with phone numbers and identified by caller ID. No need for the punter to have their lat & long handy.

great suggestion re sat nav but try getting funding to buy one! at present frontline emergency service workers esp gardai dont know if clapped out vehickes will be replaced

Colm. We do know. They won’t be replaced.

Decimalised coordinates overcomes minutes and degree notation. Grid reference number is no longer than a phone number to recite and coupled with verbal directions would be most sensible.

Many people only have mobile numbers and may not be registered to the correct address.

I used to work for a Telco and regularly traced 999 calls where someone could not talk on the phone, and gave the information to the operator who passed it on to the emergency service. (before digital exchanges)

Post codes in the uk do not identify particular houses, maybe just narrow the area down to quarter of a mile. Satnav will take you virtually to the house. Addresses in our townland have no house names or road names. Many have the same surname. Only Anpost can find our house correctly with certainty by the surname.

Satnav coordinates are easiest to use and can be converted to grid ref and emergency services carry maps. When my mother was seriously ill we would have loved to have been able to give her address co-ordinates to the emergency services rather than have to try and give directions over the mobile phone with the poor signal quality due to the hilly terrain and again to the ambulance crew.

The emergency services had three miles to travel, I had 9 miles and arrived at the same time.

My mother rang us for help and we rang the emergency services just before she passed out. If our telephone number had been cross referenced then the ambulance would have gone to the wrong place.

Finally a year ago I met a doctor in the next townland asking where a certain person lived who had had a heart attack. I had no idea who they were and he had no idea where they lived!

If I had a post code I would be happy to give that. Took people in the uk years to bother with post codes. My grandparents never bothered to learn theirs.

Post codes in the UK generally contain up to 6 addresses. Some large institutions have their own unique code. I’d imagine in rural areas, a postcode can be quite broad so it wouldn’t pin point a street address.

In both the UK and Australia, some mobile operators display the first 3 letters/numbers of the postcode that you are based in. This is a rough estimate based on triangulation of cell towers. In Australia you’ll see the name of the suburb or townland.

Post codes are to no avail if you have an accident on a road and you have no idea where you are. It woulld be useful that when a 999 call is made that it sends some additional data – perhaps the GPS location if a smartphone or allows the 999 operator to “see” the approximate locatiion of the phone based on old fashioned triangulation.

I have an iPhone, it’s easy to see where you are but not easy to find the GPS co-ordinates.

You try and give GPS coordinates over the phone while your house is burning down!

@brian, take a look at loc8.ie they have a nice system, also have an iphone app. might not suit everybody but think of having a few codes that you can give to friends to meet you with a few meters.

why would they put sat navs on board for staff after they sacked 14 staff on Monday in Roscommon and now the rest nationwide are set to strike going by news The Councils and central government never lock the gate till the horse has bolted but do it the Irish way and it turns to a stampede we really need to get rid of dead wood inn government starting with enda and his merry men then we need to get the local deadwood gone

yeah good one. how many people will know their home address map co-ordinates. my pensioner mam watches cornation street not discovery channel.

Of course, because the rest of the world clearly has it wrong.

well when you need help.in emergency and ambulance crew cant find you would you care to be reminded you thgt post codes acwaste of time and employees shldv bought their own sat nav!

You’ve never heard a call from a person in panic in an emergency. While station in the DFB headquarters a few years ago I took a call where a person rang in, screaming their house was on fire from a private number, screamed to send help and hung up before I could ask what the address was. You can not image what goes through people’s minds in times of crisis.