Maps are only the visible part of GIS. Learn how address data, response boundaries, unit locations, AVL, routing, and geospatial information influence 911, dispatch, response, planning, and analytics.
Location affects nearly every part of emergency response. Geographic Information Systems provide the underlying spatial data used to locate incidents, define response areas, analyse risk, visualise resources and increasingly support Next Generation 911. Automatic Vehicle Location adds the current position of your resources to that picture. The two are not the same thing: GIS is the system and data used to understand places — addresses, boundaries, roads, risks and the relationships between them — while AVL is the technology that reports where a vehicle is right now. Both have to be accurate, and somebody in your jurisdiction is responsible for keeping them that way.
If you read one thing on this subject, read this.
The national assessment of GIS data readiness for 911 and Next Generation 911.
Why it matters
Shows what good address, road and boundary data has to look like before it can carry a 911 call to the right place.
The federal source for national topographic, boundary, road and address geospatial data.
Why it matters
Worth knowing what public geospatial data already exists before paying a vendor to supply it.
Everything above was published by someone else, and is here because it is the clearest treatment of the subject we could find and verify. The Hub’s own guide to this topic is still being written. If you know a better source than the ones listed, that is worth telling us before it is.
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