VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Rebecca Hooker, a 911 dispatcher, watched two red squares inch across a city map on her computer. One square was a fire truck, the other an ambulance. They were heading north on Diamond Springs Road, driving toward Air Rail Drive where a possible heart-attack victim was waiting.

Six months ago, dispatchers couldn’t keep real-time tabs on vehicles.

“We’d have to call and ask,” Hooker said.

The technology is part of a sophisticated — and some say slow-moving — $1.7 million plan to overhaul the way the city’s police, fire and emergency medical services departments respond to emergencies.

Read More Elaborate GPS plans stall, frustrate Va. firefighters.