Business Situation

Two residents in the same city with the same physical address is a problem.  It can cause issues with mail delivery, UPS delivery, and for family and friends.  From a public safety perspective an erroneous address could be the difference between life and death.

In Whitfield County, Georgia not only were they dealing with duplicate addresses but also stacked addresses, out of sequence addresses, two or more addressable structures on a private drive, and odd/even addressing issues.  Whitfield County knew they had a problem and it was time to solve it.

Unfortunately for Whitfield County, they did not have the staff or time required to identify and correct their addressing problems.  A local project management team headed by GIS Coordinator, Jess Hansen, decided that for public safety reasons corrective action was needed as soon as possible.  The county identified the need for outside assistance and specific expertise to help with GIS addressing and data consulting.  So, they embarked on a major project and they needed a proven partner.

The overall goal of this project was to enhance emergency response capabilities by providing verified locatable addresses for 9-1-1.  Locatable addresses are critical for prompt emergency response to a location.

Step 1:

Whitfield County partnered with GeoComm for this project.  They felt GeoComm had the knowledge, skills, and ability to solve their problem.  According to Whitfield County, GeoComm understood the extent of their addressing problems and they were excited that the person presenting the methodology to investigate the problem was going to be the person who worked on it.  “The feeling we got from GIS Consultant, Kathy Liljequist, during the interview process was that we were hiring a company with genuinely “good people” has been more than fulfilled,” Jess Hansen, GIS Coordinator. 

To start with, GeoComm completed a needs assessment on a sample data set of the identified areas of primary concern.  The findings in the sample area identified the different types of addressing problems the county had and to what extent they could expect addresses to change. 

Step 2:

After the results of the sample assessment were reviewed, GeoComm worked with Whitfield County through five product phases:

• Fieldwork Preparation and Collection

• Map Data Layer Enhancements and Development

• Map Data Quality Assurance

• USPS Coordination and Notification

• MSAG and Telephone Database Updates

Fieldwork Preparation and Collection

GeoComm Field Specialists visually verified visible addresses on structures.  If the address was not visible, they spoke with as many residents and businesses as possible to obtain the correct addressing information.  However, if they were unable to speak with a resident or business representative, an address notification pamphlet was left behind.  This pamphlet provided information concerning the project and the field identification number assigned to the structure.  It instructed the resident or business owner to contact GeoComm’s project team by telephone or to complete and mail in the survey to verify their address.

The GIS field data collection was completed two months early due to extensive pre-planning and overall efficiency.  Another major contribution to the early completion was a well organized public awareness campaign managed by Whitfield County.  This campaign did an excellent job of informing the citizens of Whitfield County about the project, how GeoComm’s staff would be collecting data, and how important their cooperation was to this project.  The county notified the citizens in a variety of ways, including:

• press releases which were published in the local newspaper and on the counties Web site

• news stories on the local TV stations where they interviewed GeoComm staff, Whitfield County residents, and also showed GeoComm’s vehicles to help the residents recognize the staff.

Map Data Layer Enhancements and Developments

After fieldwork collection, GeoComm conducted all the necessary steps to enhance both the road centerline layer and address point layer to be used for E9-1-1.  In addition, GeoComm updated the existing Emergency Service Zone (ESZ) layer and developed a postal community boundaries layer.  These additional layers are designed to enhance end-user functionality.  GeoComm also identified road naming issues which were then provided to the county to review and correct.

Map Data Quality Assurance

Next, GeoComm performed several in-depth project quality assurance/quality control steps to ensure the map data was accurate.  All layers went through many rounds of quality checks.  Road ranges were checked to make sure there were not any gaps or overlays.  Addresses were checked to make sure newly assigned addresses did not already exist or were not duplicates.  Lastly, Whitfield County was provided with an ESZ layer which was modified and verified. 

USPS Coordination and Notification

After new addresses were assigned and quality control was complete, GeoComm worked with regional post offices to convert addresses to the newly assigned addresses in the postal database and to verify the postal boundaries.  After the post office accepted the new addresses, GeoComm worked with the municipality to notify each readdressed resident/business of their new address.

MSAG and Telephone Database Updates

Finally, GeoComm ensured all necessary updates were made to both the MSAG and telephone databases.  GeoComm completed a comparison of records in the MSAG to the road centerline layer to determine which road centerline segments did not match the MSAG.  GeoComm also researched the accuracy of resident telephone numbers to find records without valid MSAG addresses.  If a phone number resulted in an uncertain address location, GeoComm contacted the residents to verify the telephone number’s assigned physical location.

End Result

From the project kickoff to completion the project took approximately two years.  Throughout the entire process, the Whitfield County project management team received monthly updates from GeoComm regarding the project schedule, identified current milestones, and project status. 

“In broad terms, our expectations were that GeoComm’s staff would fix our addressing problems with minimal errors, which GeoComm has done.  We have worked most closely with GeoComm’s Dorrie Lamser and Dan Schmitz and they have repeatedly taken action on our concerns and issues,” said Jess Hansen, GIS Coordinator. “More specifically, our day to day interaction with both Dorrie and Dan has been overwhelmingly positive.  They acknowledge our concerns and work hard to solve them.  Both of them have been cooperative, professional and put our concerns above theirs.”

Whitfield County now has updated addresses, a highly accurate GIS data set, and updated MSAG and telephone databases.  Most importantly, the project provides public safety responders with locatable addresses that display the correct location on a map in an emergency, resulting in improved response times.

About Whitfield County

Whitfield County, which was established in 1851, is a large county in Northwest Georgia.  The county is considered the "Carpet Capital of the World" and home to some of the world's largest floor covering manufacturers.  It covers almost 300 square miles and has a population of approximately 93,000 people.