South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Fire Agency said on Monday they will apply precision location measurement technology at fire service sites in the Daejeon area to more accurately identify the location of people needing rescue in emergency situations.

The technology combines information such as base stations, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and atmospheric pressure to reduce location error from about 30 metres to around 15 metres. It provides height information inside buildings as well as horizontal location data, making it possible to identify the floor where the person is located. The ministry built an integrated platform in May this year to apply the technology in the field.

Previously, using base stations and GPS separately made it difficult to accurately confirm location and floor indoors, limiting the ability to secure the golden time for rescue.

The National Fire Agency has been working with the ministry to apply the precision location measurement technology to the emergency rescue standard system to improve the accuracy of identifying a caller's location during 119 reports. Based on demonstration results in Daejeon, it also plans to review a way to reflect the technology in the next-generation integrated 119 system that is currently being upgraded.

The ministry is developing technology through follow-up research and development through the end of 2027 to additionally use fifth-generation mobile communications (5G) base station distance and direction information and data from various global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). It aims to reduce location error to around 10 metres and pinpoint the location of a person needing rescue at the building level.

Lim Jeong-gyu (임정규), director general for Information Protection and Network Policy at the ministry, said the agencies will continue cooperating so the research and development results can be used at actual rescue sites to protect people's lives and safety.

Kim Sang-hyeon (김상현), director general of the Equipment and Technology Bureau at the National Fire Agency, said the agency plans to expand application to other regions after starting with demonstrations in Daejeon. He said it will strengthen a close cooperation system with the ministry to spread the technology.