With the State of Illinois’ impending transition to a Next Generation 9-1-1 system (NG911), many 911 agencies are currently working to update their GIS data. Agencies are required to have GIS data for their emergency service boundaries, road centerlines, and address points. In an NG911 system, data from all agencies will be maintained by the agency but stored and shared at the state level, meaning every agency’s data must be in the same format. This is no small task and some agencies have reached out for help.
Cloudpoint has recently contracted with three such agencies:
Macon County ETSB
Proviso-Leyden Joint ETSB
Consolidated Emergency Communication Center of Cook County (CERCCC)
These projects consist of creating required attribute data that does not currently exist in the agency’s data, correcting errors or inconsistencies in the existing attribute data, and correcting geometry errors.
Required attribute data is necessary for the NG911 system to function. These include items such as road name, address number, road centerline parity (whether the address on each side of the road is even or odd), and the incorporated municipality on either side of the road centerline. When these attributes are not provided, we use additional data approved or provided by the client to populate them.
When these attributes are provided by the client, we run error checks to ensure their accuracy. For instance, these checks ensure the road names are consistent throughout the database or that the address number of an address point fits within the address range of the adjacent road centerline.
Lastly, the boundary and road centerline geometry should be error-free. Road centerlines should be broken and snapped at intersections. It is essential that there are no gaps or overlaps in the emergency service boundary data within these agencies or between agencies with whom they share a boundary. Cloudpoint will work with neighboring agencies to work through these issues.
Cloudpoint is excited to play a part in ensuring our 911 systems leverage the technology available today. When seconds matter, you can count on us to get you to the where and provide you with the what, that you need to potentially save lives.
If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization visit cloudpointgeo.com/NG911 or contact us for more information.