Kootenai County
Addressing
and
Enhanced
9-1-1 Project
Bringing emergency dispatch abilities to the cutting edge.
Commonly Asked Questions:
I haven’t moved, so why is my address changing?
Property owners within the unincorporated areas of Kootenai County will be subject to a change in their address. In order to make the Enhanced 911 work, each principal structure on each parcel must receive a locatable address.
Duplicate County road names, within the same Emergency Service Zone were changed. This diminishes potential confusion during dispatch of emergency assistance.
Your address should not change again.
A Letter from the Kootenai County Planning Department will notify you if your address is going to change. You should receive the letter between July 1 and August 30, 1999. That
letter will indicate your old address and your newly assigned address.
This project will effect those on private and public roads. Any privately maintained accessway that services three or more parcels and/or residences must be named and signed with a blue blade. (Blue road signs indicate a private road, while green indicates public road.) It is the responsibility of the private road association, or the property owners serviced by the roadway, to purchase and erect their street sign.
Road names were collected from the general public and staff. That list was used to rename, and name roadways by members of the Project Team.
How E-911 Was Accomplished
Kootenai County implemented the Enhanced 911 Telephone System using the Global Positioning System, (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.
The County hired GeoResearch, Inc. an experienced vendor specializing in the implementation of GPS/GIS and E-911 projects to provide a comprehensive, accurate mapping and addressing system.
GeoResearch set up a local project management office and began field verifying the rural areas using their patented GeoLink PowerMap software to map the road network and record locations of the County’s rural structures. By monitoring the signals transmitted from the military’s navigational satellites, GeoResearch provided a very accurate basemap and associated data to the County.
The road data (road name, surface type, number of lanes, etc.) and the structure data (resident name, current address, access point, structure type, etc) has been compiled and integrated with the County’s existing GIS system to facilitate accurate and efficient record keeping of multiple departments.
With the assistance of GeoResearch new mailing addresses were assigned to those structures using rural route and box address and, and a new physical address to thos using a post office box. The unique, locatable address will allow emergency and utility services, (not to mention the UPS, Fed X, and the pizza delivery guy), to better respond to those in need.
Out with the Old, In with the New
The existing 911 system relies on the caller to provide all necessary information on the location of the emergency. The dispatcher has to consult a map to determine who provides services to the area. If for some reason,the caller is unable to provide the information, the dispatch of emergency services may be delayed. The only information displayed and available to the 911 dispatcher is the phone number of the phone from which the call was originated.
With the E-911 System, the caller merely has to make contact with the 911 dispatcher and help is a push button away. Even if the caller never utters a word, the name, locatable address, and information regarding law enforcement, fire and ambulance appears on screen.
The abillity to provide quicker response time may save lives and property.
A
joint effort of Kootenai County Departments
Disaster Services
GIS
Offices
911 Communications Center
Planning Department
June
1999