Ed Cottam began dialling triple-0 as he stopped to help a motorcyclist lying on the road, but his quick thinking turned into a 15-minute struggle to explain where he was.

Key points: The inability of emergency operators to pinpoint a mobile phone caller's location can cause delays in dispatching first responders

The inability of emergency operators to pinpoint a mobile phone caller's location can cause delays in dispatching first responders The rollout of automatic mobile location (AML) technology is expected to improve the way the triple-0 service can manage emergencies

The rollout of automatic mobile location (AML) technology is expected to improve the way the triple-0 service can manage emergencies Telstra will make the information available from June after agreement from phone giants Apple and Android

The retired South Australian school teacher was returning home with his wife after holidaying in Victoria when they made the discovery.

"We weren't in a hurry to get back to the Riverland, so we told the GPS we were happy to use the backroads, so we were wandering through the backblocks of Victoria heading toward Casterton," he said.

"We came over the crest of a hill … there was a man lying in the middle of the road.

"I could see the motorcycle smashed into the foliage by the side of the road. I jumped out of the car, dialling triple-0 as I went."

But as Mr Cottam used his first-aid training to help the injured rider, he was also having to help the emergency operator locate him.

"I explained that my GPS said I was 13 kilometres south of Casterton, but she wanted me to find a side road and its name, but in the middle of the forest, side roads are few and far between."

Mr Cottam said he was shocked to learn that despite believing mobile phones could be easily tracked, emergency call operators could not access that information.

"For me, the ability to ping the phone would have been the answer; all they would have had to do is ping, 'Ah, I see where you are, and here comes the ambulance'."

Distressing experience not isolated

Across Australia, the inability of emergency operators to pinpoint a mobile phone caller's location can cause delays in dispatching first responders.

But that will all change when technology in use overseas is introduced in Australia later this year.

The technology will be introduced by the end of the year. ( ABC Riverland: Samantha Dawes )

Dr Amee Morgans, the executive director of operations support with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), said locating mobile phone callers was "unfortunately a little bit common".

"It's quite hard to locate people in some circumstances, particularly when they are in a large open space without road-based markings," she said.

"We have the same challenges with people in national parks, on beaches and on rural properties."

Dr Morgans said the rollout of advanced mobile location (AML) technology would greatly improve the way the triple-0 service and first responders could manage emergencies.

"It will be much easier to locate people to a very specific location," she said.

"The GPS information we will get from the phone is almost down to a three-by-three-metre square — about the size of a dinner table.

"At the moment, even when people give an address, there can be lots of different places at that address, out the back, or upstairs.

"It will also help with those long location verification problems that we have, when people aren't on road-based locations, where they're in parks, on a beach, or halfway to Casterton on a long road."

Information to come online from June

Telstra will make the information available from June after agreement from phone giants Apple and Android.

First responders will be able to locate triple-0 callers more accurately. ( ABC News: Billy Cooper )

"We are really excited that we finally got agreement with those two big international organisations, and it's being managed by the national Department of Communication and Arts," Dr Morgans said.

"It will take a little bit to connect it to the backend of our systems, but we should see it in place by the end of this year."

She said the information would change how emergencies were managed in remote or difficult terrain or on water.

"Instead of arriving and viewing the scene and saying we need high-angle rescue or a boat, we should know that from the GPS information that we will get from the handset … which is so exciting for us."

Until the technology is rolled out, mobile phone users can install an app called Emergency+ on their phones to allow them to provide location details if they need to call triple-0.