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Not just the police department... Fire, ambulance, poison control, dig safely, local traffic control tower (they're about ~9 miles away from me), pharmacy, and suicide prevention (every fridge needs one of those magnets).

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Seems like the government could very cheaply offer an app that is basically just a geolocated lookup for these sorts of things. The app could basically just be a spatialite database generated from a git repo, and it would only have to be updated periodically, and would never go down.

They should but I think it would be a great community project. I'd be interested in helping out, been working on apps for ~3 years.

Smart. Noting these. Why traffic control tower?

Maybe to call if there's a plane in trouble?

Some airports also have public phone numbers to get weather information, could come in handy to know if you're-for example, living in tornado alley and a system rolls through that knocks out power and cellular service.

If you have a working landline phone, calling a nearby airport could be your only way to know the latest conditions and if it's safe to go outside.

My elderly father is living with my sister's family. To find out if it's safe to venture outside they tie a rope to him and push him out the door.

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