Shelby County, TN, Improves 911 Call Plotting and GIS Data Using Nearmap

SOUTH JORDAN, UT —The Shelby County, Tennessee, Emergency Communications District has implemented Nearmap high-resolution aerial imagery to geocode and plot new addresses and developments into the 911 mapping systems to help fire and rescue, emergency medical services and law enforcement get instant access to updated maps containing GIS data needed to get to the right locations as soon as possible.

The Emergency Communications District is responsible for establishing local emergency telephone service, providing the network call-handling equipment, and updating the geographic information systems (GIS) data for each Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) within Shelby County.

Nearmap provides frequently-updated, high-quality aerial captures to ensure that the District’s GIS Data, geocoding and the 911 mapping systems are up to date, providing public safety and law enforcement the most accurate information.

Benefits of Nearmap aerial imagery for the Emergency Communications District include:

• The imagery is delivered through the cloud as a subscription service, making it accessible to all team members via mobile and desktop.
• Nearmap imagery is taken at least twice a year, both leaf-on and leaf-off to provide different views of locations in different seasons.
• Aerial captures integrate directly into ArcMap, ArcPro and ArcGIS Online applications, so GIS information can overlay directly onto the high-resolution imagery.

Before Nearmap, Shelby County's aerial image process required a contracted flight to photograph the county areas. Because of the high cost of capturing those images, the county purchased images once every two years, after pooling resources from various county entities.

“With our old aerial imagery provider, there were issues with mosaicking separate images together, and since the imagery was taken every two years, many rural and unincorporated areas were out of date,” said Timothy Zimmer, the GIS Administrator for Shelby County’s Emergency Communications District.

With out of date images, the county had to develop alternate methods to locate addresses for the 911 systems. Now, the combined impact of data services, base maps, Nearmap imagery, and third-party data are improving all aspects of public safety, including law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services. Even other agencies are using the district’s imagery and GIS data.

“There’s a certain context and currency you can get from Nearmap imagery that you simply can’t get from any other imagery products,” Zimmer said. “Other agencies, such as the County Clerk and the Utility Company, are using our addressing data because Nearmap has helped enable us to be much more current.”

About Nearmap

Nearmap brings the real world to you. We capture, manage and deliver the most current location content in the world, allowing businesses and governments to explore their environment easily. With Nearmap, organizations unlock opportunities that consistently inform decision-making and profoundly transform the way they work. Our high-resolution, frequently updated aerial imagery is 3-inch GSD, better than satellite imagery. Delivered within days of capture, Nearmap shows changes over time. Users save time and money, reduce site visits, and efficiently plan with current, clear imagery.

Nearmap is delivered through a refreshingly easy-to-use interface called MapBrowser or accessed via Esri and Autodesk products.

View a current project in Nearmap today. For more information, visit http://go.nearmap.com.