Download examining address data and improving procedures to

EXAMINING ADDRESS DATA AND IMPROVING
PROCEDURES TO CREATE RELIABLE
EMERGENCY SERVICES
“On paper, many firms look similar and it's frequently difficult to measure certain intangibles like project
management, communication or culture until you actually begin working with them. We've been very
impressed by the professional and responsive nature of GeoComm's staff. Communication has been
consistent, frequent and well prepared in the form of project status reports, conference calls, and day- to-day
contact as tasks require it. In short, our working relationship with GeoComm has been effortless which has
made them seem like an extension of our own staff.”
~ Ray Weiser- GIS Coordinator, Scott County, Iowa
Scott County lies along the Mississippi River in
Eastern Iowa, approximately 180 miles east of Des
Moines. Covering over 460 square miles, it is the
third largest county in Iowa and home to almost
165,000 people. In 2003 Scott County conducted
an independent study to review the possibility of
sharing public safety services across governmental
boundaries. The study revealed that one
consolidated 9-1-1 center would be beneficial to
Scott County and thus the planning for Scott
Emergency Communications Center began.
Scott County officials determined that before the
new consolidated Emergency Communications
Center went into operation a new spatially based
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system was
needed. However, the data the CAD system
required was not yet developed and accurate map
layers for the entire county had to be created. They
also wanted a plan in place to handle the ongoing
maintenance required to keep the data layers up to
date.
Through an official RFP process GeoComm was
selected to provide Scott County with the address
data and process improvements necessary to
ensure Scott County had reliable emergency
services for their residents. This included providing
Scott County with GIS data analysis and the
development services required to create an
implementation plan and county-wide dataset for
use in the new consolidated Emergency
Communications Center.
Before address verification began in the field, Scott
County and GeoComm realized that there were
some unique challenges in collecting address
information and developing it into GIS map data.
These unique challenges were most notably
buildings with more than one resident and/or
address. There were areas that had multiple
buildings with the same address, areas with one
building and multiple addresses, as well as one
building with multiple units (apartments), that all
used the same address. To help pre-locate all
suspected multi-unit addresses, GeoComm and
Scott County’s GIS staff used several resources,
including the ALI database, energy company
databases, and building footprints that fell within
multi-unit zoning areas for each city. In all, over
8,000 suspected multi-unit structures were fieldverified by GeoComm staff in less than 4 months.
Address data was collected from these structures
so they would accurately plot in Scott County’s
CAD system.
United in Public Safety
www.geo-comm.com
888.436.2666
Examining Address Data and Improving Procedures to Create Reliable Emergency Services
While the fieldwork was underway, review and
development of the primary GIS map data layers,
such as the street centerline, address point layer,
and ESZ Boundary layer began. The street
centerline, which is the primary layer required for
public safety, was improved to have a better
synchronization rate with Scott County’s ALI
database and MSAG. The ESN boundary map
layer, which depicts the service area for fire,
medical, and law responders, was reviewed and
altered through several online meetings with local
staff, to ensure proper location and synchronization
with the MSAG. The synchronization of the GIS
map data and the databases were key in Scott
County so that their dispatch mapping system
accurately plotted wireline calls. This includes
better than a 98% geocode rate of the telephone
subscriber records in the ALI database.
After each step was complete, GeoComm
conducted a series of Quality Assurance/Quality
Control audits to evaluate the quality of the map
data. The results were compiled and a list of the
errors and possible solutions were provided to the
county's database provider and Scott County so
changes could be made to the ALI Database and
MSAG to increase the synchronization to the GIS
Map Data. Scott County now had updated GIS
map layers with addressable and field verified street
centerlines, an updated Address Point Layer,
updated MSAG, and an updated ALI Database.
for the conversion, creation, maintenance, and
transfer of public safety GIS data. These processes
and procedures ensured that data synchronization
and error reporting was also maintained.
During the project, Scott County also requested
GeoComm help them develop some additional
data layers. These layers included police beat
boundaries, police reporting area boundaries, fire
beat boundaries, and fire reporting area
boundaries. The information contained in these
data layers provides an invaluable resource when
the dispatchers are answering emergency calls.
The new Scott Emergency Communications Center
now has a complete county-wide, highly accurate
GIS dataset and maintenance plan. More
importantly, the project provides public safety
responders with locatable addresses that display
the correct location on a map in an emergency,
resulting in improved response times. While the
address point data model was designed with public
safety as a priority, it also took into account other
needs, making it a valuable resource across
departments.
GeoComm and the company providing Scott
County’s new CAD system hope to have all of the
data complete so the system can start being used
in the middle of December 2010.
Because Scott County was consolidating into one
Emergency Communications Center they
recognized the need to implement a strong
maintenance plan that would ensure their map
data, MSAG, and software was synchronized to
effectively plot incident locations. Scott County
wanted to ensure their data was managed well and
that communication between departments and
municipalities was effective to meet the County’s
goals for 9-1-1 call plotting. They also needed an
efficient way to manage their GIS data and merge
new addresses into the MSAG and ALI databases.
To help them achieve their goals for GIS data
maintenance, GeoComm met with personnel from
several Scott County departments as well as
representatives from all municipalities within Scott
County. The information gathered at these
meetings enabled GeoComm to create address
assignment and maintenance workflow processes
United in Public Safety
www.geo-comm.com
888.436.2666