Title: GIS Use at an Emergency Communications Center
Authors: Sgt. M. Ross Klun, Barnstable County Sheriff's Dept.
Date/Time: Tuesday, September 23 ~ 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Abstract: The Barnstable County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) operates one of the largest regional communications centers in S. E. Massachusetts. The center answers incoming E-911 calls for seven communities on Cape Cod and dispatches fire and EMS for seven fire departments, along with a host of other responsibilities. GIS mapping has become a necessary and integral part of the operation. We us it to get first responders to the correct address, and helps us to maintain better situational awareness.

The state's E-911 equipment has been interfaced with our CAD system so that all incoming calls are populated on the CAD GIS map. Both wire line and wireless calls can be displayed. Fire and EMS incidents are also displayed on our map.

We use a mixture of data from a wide variety of sources, including local, county, state, federal, and private. Presently there are over 100 layers in our system.

Since we deal with many different entities for our data, we have encountered several issues with our GIS program, including standardization of data, address matching, and collection of data. However, with the increasing use of GIS information by public safety agencies like the BCSO, GIS is being seen as a more valuable tool.
  1. Intro to Barnstable County Sheriff's office
    1. Number of municipalities
    2. Total population
    3. Total number of annual calls
    4. Types of calls
    5. Etc.
  2. Old method of dispatching (prior to using GIS)
  3. Trained staff
    1. Hierarchy
  4. IT infrastructure
    1. Number of end-user stations and their specs
    2. Server specs
    3. GIS software licensing
      1. Types of software (ESRI software…ArcView, ArcIMS…etc.)
      2. Number of seats (concurrent / site license…etc.)
      3. ESRI compatible software (i.e. extensions, business partner solutions…etc…if any)
  5. GIS Data
    1. Amount of Data
    2. Data standards (format (geodatabase vs. shapefiles), layers (parcels, hydrants, imagery)…etc.)
    3. Data procurement (process of gathering data from Towns)
  6. GIS product
    1. Information for dispatch
    2. Mapping (if any)
    3. On-line distribution of GIS data (if any)
  7. Summary of benefits of using GIS in dispatching
  8. Hurdles in program set-
Print this Page
Close Window