Chapter 17, Problem 17.28MD

(Project: Emergency Response Class) The North American emergency response service, 9-1-1, connects callers to a local Public Service Answering Point (PSAP). Traditionally, the PSAP would ask the caller for identification information—including the callers address. Phone number and the nature of the emergency, then dispatch the appropriate emergency responders (such as the police, an ambulance or the fire department). Enhanced 9-1-1 (or E9-1-1) uses computers and databases to determine the caller’s physical address, directs the call to the nearest PSAP, and displays the caller’s phone number and address to the call taker. Wireless Enhanced 9-1-1 provides call takers with identification information for wireless calls, Rolled out in two phases, the first phase required carriers to provide the wireless phone number and the location of the cell site or base station transmitting the call. The second phase required carriers to provide the location of the caller (using technologies such as GPS). To learn more about

9-1-1, visit www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/911–services/welcome. html and people.howstuffworks.com/9–1–1–.htm.

An important part of creating a class is determining the class’s attributes (instance variables). For this class design exercise, research 9-1-1 services on the Internet. Then, design a class called Emergency that might be used in an object-oriented 9-1-1 emergency response system. List the attributes that an object of this class might use to represent the emergency. For example, the class might include information on who reported the emergency (including their phone number), the location of the emergency, the time of the report, the nature of the emergency, the type of response and the status of the response. The class attributes should completely describe the nature of the problem and what’s happening to resolve that problem.