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Emergency Caller Location Information (ECLI)
The ECLI service enables 111 emergency call takers to receive automatically generated geographical information about the likely location of a caller, when a 111 call is made from a mobile device on a cellular network.
The ECLI Service improves public safety and potentially saves lives. It does this by decreasing the time taken to accept and verify the location of 111 mobile callers and reducing the average dispatch time for emergency events from mobile phones.
How it works
The ECLI informs Police, Fire and Ambulance of your location when you call 111 from a mobile phone. You still need to tell the emergency call taker where you are or as much information about your location as you can. But the system helps emergency services find you faster, even if you’re not sure of your exact location.
ECLI works with all mobile phones and you don’t need to do anything different when you call 111, even if your phone’s location services are turned off. Your data is protected and your location is only provided when you call 111.
The ECLI service is also supported by registered Android devices using the 111 TXT service. Learn about the 111 TXT service
More information about how the ECLI system operates is available on the Next Generation Critical Communications website. Go to NGCC website
Who’s involved
The ECLI Service is a collaboration between Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC), emergency service providers and mobile network operators (like Spark).
Spark provides network cell site data to a Emergency Location Information (ELI) system operated by NGCC. The ELI system receives and processes ECLI, then sends it to the relevant authorised emergency service provider.
Authorised emergency service providers — New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, St John and Wellington Free Ambulance — can use this location information to help them verify where you are calling from, so they can respond to the emergency as quickly as possible.
The information Spark provides to NGCC
- Is GPS based location data from compatible mobile phones.
- Is cell-site location data generated by the 111 call from your handset.
- Will only be used for the purpose of helping emergency service providers to identify the location of callers to 111 to respond to their request for assistance.
- Will not be retained by ELI.
- May be retained by Spark, together with a record of its delivery to ELI, for operational purposes for up to a year.
Privacy of mobile callers
The Privacy Commissioner has authorised the Emergency Caller Location Information system via Schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code which was updated in 2020. View the privacy code
Requesting your information
You can ask to access any of your information that Spark holds. See accessing and correcting your personal information above for how to do this.
You can also request access to the record of your 111 call from the emergency service providers at the links listed below:
Making a complaint
If you'd like to make a privacy complaint, there are a few different ways you can do this. View Spark's privacy complaints process
If you'd like to complain or enquire about the ECLI system, please email ECLIadmin@mbie.govt.nz
Complaints about Emergency Service Providers should be made to the relevant organisation.