WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

Want to tour a house on the market hundreds of miles away? There's an app for that. Want to see what the traffic patterns are like for the morning's commute to work? There's an app for that.

Want to video connect to emergency 911 dispatchers to report a crime? Thanks to university computer science professor Ashok Agrawala, there's now an app for that, too.

University Police officially launched the free application M-Urgency in January — a result of a collaborative effort by the Computer Science Department, the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Information Technology.

Although it has not yet been used in an emergency situation, University Police Spokesman Capt. Marc Limansky said the app will revolutionize the number of and ways in which crimes are solved.

It was slated to be released in September but was delayed due to technological troubles, Limansky added.

"This is really changing the way we think about how 911 calls are initiated and the information that they carry," Limansky said. "First, it was just voice, and now we're getting location information, the voice, the phone, the video, the name, everything. It's really great."

About 30 to 40 people have downloaded the Android app — which is only available to students and faculty — Agrawala said, and it will be available for iPhone users in two to four weeks. It is similar to Skype: When the user clicks the app, police dispatchers are able to view a live video of the user's location.

"This is the starting point for more capabilities to be added," Agrawala said of his new app. "The video goes from your cell phone to the dispatcher. In the next phase, the dispatcher will be able to forward that to the responding officers."

The app will make a radical difference in the accuracy of reports and deterring offenders from actually committing crimes, according to Limansky. The funding came from the computer science department and from private donors, Agrawala said.

"When the caller tries to remember the description, sometimes it's skewed. But this eliminates the guessing. Police can start sizing it up much earlier in the game," Limansky said. "The other advantage is it can act as a deterrent. Anyone walking around on campus could potentially have a camera linked directly to the police, so offenders might not commit that crime."

Senior economics major Avinash Mangar agreed with Limansky, adding that M-Urgency could make a difference on this campus.

"It could really take the guesswork out of reporting the crime," Mangar, an Andriod user, said. "As long as the app gets marketed right, this could make a huge impact."

Thus far, Agrawala said the product has only been marketed through word-of-mouth, but he hopes everyone with video capabilities on their cell phone will ultimately download M-Urgency.

Delays to its release, he added, were related to communication issues between the caller and the dispatcher.

"We went through a much, much more exhaustive process than we originally thought to make sure it's bullet proof," Agrawala, a university professor of 41 years, said. "All of the problems are now worked out."

Mangar said that despite the innovativeness of the product, he's unsure if it will catch on.

"I'd definitely consider downloading it because I think it's a good idea, but I don't know how effective it's going to be," Mangar said. "In an emergency, my first reaction is to call 911, not open up an app."

But, Limansky said, the app — which can be downloaded from m-urgency.umd.edu — is essentially calling 911.

He added that police don't anticipate the app to activate in someone's pocket or backpack, but the department will investigate any calls dispatchers receive.

Agrawala added that despite all of his work and effort that had gone into the creation of M-Urgency, he hopes emergency situations are few and far between.

"If no one ever has to use M-Urgency, then that is the best possible outcome."

egan@umdbk.com