Mappers erasing DeSoto County blind spots

Mappers erasing Desoto County blind spots

For Matt Hanks and Scott Trapolino, DeSoto County's geographic information system gurus, there's no such place as nowhere. Especially when lives are at stake.
"Everything is somewhere, so any place can be mapped," says GIS analyst Trapolino.
Also a volunteer firefighter in Eudora, he knows when addresses, maps and dispatch communications don't mesh, trouble begins: "I've gone to a trailer park with just a lot number, and that's not enough. You can drive past a home four times and miss it. You can always see smoke and fire, but not an injured man who's down inside."
He and GIS director Hanks are helping put DeSoto on the E-911 map as one of the first counties in the state with a unified, computer-aided dispatch system that utilizes "point addresses" to pinpoint emergencies and better direct first responders. With this system in place, a call to a trailer park would pull up data that includes private road crossings to precisely place the lot number.
The two-man GIS office expects the address collection and verification effort, aided by volunteers, to be completed by the end of the year. Students at the GIS Club at Lake Cormorant High School, for example, helped collect data last year for Walls and areas of Horn Lake and the county, Hanks said.
There's been 90 to 95 percent accuracy in verifying address information from Hernando and Horn Lake, said Trapolino, who added the task for Hernando was wrapped up this week. Olive Branch and Southaven compiled data earlier, and soon the effort will focus on the eastern part of the county.
"Local knowledge" is being factored in so that the same roadway that may be known as Miss. 305, Cockrum Street or Germantown Road in different segments causes no confusion, said Hanks.
Point address progress is welcome news for responders such as Bobby Storey, DeSoto fire marshal and Emergency Management director. He said his office this week is completing computer installation in its vehicles, including the staff command vehicle.
"When GIS gets done, we'll get dispatch information that our onboard computers can run up, and we see it 'layered' with details such as road crossings, and where hydrants or gas lines are," said Storey.
"We're dealing with about 70,000 point addresses across the county," said Hanks, but he pointed out that a single such address might serve for a mall or apartment complex with many tenants.
"We're saving the county quite a bit of money by handling this in-house," he said, noting that Shelby County recently issued a request for proposals on securing point-address data for its E-911 system. The estimated $1 million project will take up to two years, Hanks said.
The only other area in the state trying to match DeSoto's project are the hard-hit Gulf Coast counties of Harrison, Hancock and Jackson, in the aftermath of Katrina.
"Here in DeSoto we're trying to be proactive," said Hanks.
A Mississippi State University graduate and Grenada native, Hanks came to DeSoto's GIS office in 2006 and became director the following year. Trapolino, originally from Houston, Texas, was a GIS analyst for alma mater Delta State University before joining Hanks last year. Both just turned 30.
Hanks and Trapolino issue regular data updates to the county's seven-member E-911 Commission.
Everything starts with accurate information "to get first responders where they need to be," said commission member Chris Shelton of Southaven.
-- Henry Bailey: (901) 333-2012 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (901) 333-2012 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
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The Geo Code
Point address and centerline files are two types of layers used in emergency response, says DeSoto County GIS director Matt Hanks, and they become particularly functional once they are "geocoded."
Geocoding, Hanks said, is the process of assigning geographic identifiers to map features and other data records, such as street addresses. When implemented into a dispatch map, these two layers, along with others -- such as fire hydrants and gas transmission lines -- create an effective base map that is useful to emergency responders.
"A point address is a single point on a map that marks exactly where an address is located," said Hanks. Most often, this point will be created digitally on top of the structure, so once the address is entered, it will display at that exact location, he said.
Centerlines typically have address ranges that are used to locate addresses along streets. When an address is entered, the computer locates the address on a street segment.
Since the majority of addresses are human-generated and address ranges in a centerline file are most often computer-generated, Hanks said, these addresses can potentially display inaccurate locations. Point addresses help responders to fill in this discrepancy.
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