Integrating emergency dispatch capabilities in Spain

The challenge

Catalonia is home to more than 7.7 million people, of which approximately 3.2 million live in the Barcelona metro area and 1.6 million in the city of Barcelona itself. Residents of Barcelona are protected and served by the Barcelona City Council and its police and fire services. The local police and fire use the multi-agency Mycelium Dispatch Emergency System, built on Hexagon’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) technology.

Barcelona residents had separate emergency numbers for police and fire, and had the option to dial 112. But when Barcelona residents dialed 112 in an emergency, regional 112 call-takers had to transfer the calls to either the city police or fire departments. This increased the time residents had to wait for emergency assistance.

The solution

To increase coordination and service quality while reducing response times, the agencies needed to integrate Barcelona’s CAD system with Catalonia’s regional emergency 112 CAD system. To do this, the emergency services utilized Hexagon’s Xalt | Integration solution, designed to integrate mission-critical systems.

The combined system handles more than 1,500 daily incidents through a constant, real-time exchange of approximately 25,000 messages a day with Catalonia’s emergency 112 service. The integrated systems allow callers to dial 112 for all their police and fire emergency service needs, without the requirement of separate phone numbers or the frustration of being transferred during an emergency, improving response times and the quality of service to the region.