Over 25 Project Wins, Multiple Onboarded NG9-1-1 Customers, New Experts, Major Public Safety GIS Product Enhancements and 57 Conferences Attended – 2019 Year in Review (Part 1)

2019 was quite a busy year for DATAMARK. We won over 25 projects and onboarded multiple NG9-1-1 customers, each with their own unique needs. We grew our staff and updated and enhanced our flagship product, DATAMARK VEP (we’ll highlight these in part two). We also attended a total of 57 conferences, four of which we’ll highlight in part three of our 2019 year in review series.

Here is a recap of how our newest customers are leveraging our products and services to implement GIS data for use in current 9-1-1 systems and simplify the transition to NG9-1-1 for addressing authorities, as well as GIS and PSAP stakeholders.

1. Merced County, California awarded DATAMARK its contract to develop a master road and address database for use by public safety agencies and enterprise planning committees. The project leveraged DATAMARK’s expertise in GIS and public safety and DATAMARK VEP to increase both the completeness and accuracy of the database for address management and NG9-1-1 GIS data preparation purposes.
2. San Mateo County, California commissioned DATAMARK to perform a data implementation project to ensure the accuracy and completeness of its address databases in advance of the transition to NG9-1-1. The project includes creating road centerlines, performing an address comparison evaluation, and aggregating GIS data from existing sources into one database to meet the specific provisioning needs of the computer-aided dispatch system and NG9-1-1 requirements.

3. Walton County, Florida chose DATAMARK VEP for its NG9-1-1 GIS solution to assess the street centerline data with the master streets address guide (MSAG), and address data with the automatic location identifier (ALI). DATAMARK VEP enabled the county’s GIS department to ensure readiness before, during and after the county’s transition to NG9-1-1, while still supporting legacy 9-1-1 systems.
4. Six Maryland counties selected DATAMARK VEP to validate, edit and provision GIS data for existing and next-gen 9-1-1 systems. DATAMARK VEP improved public safety communications, location precision, and ensured the data met the stringent NG9-1-1 requirements in each county.

DATAMARK works closely with each customer tailoring our solutions to meet their specific needs and achieve their goals. To learn more about how DATAMARK can help with your preparation and transition to NG9-1-1, contact us or visit our website. Stay tuned for part two where we’ll highlight a few of our new expert staff members and our DATAMARK VEP product enhancements and part three where we’ll discuss the key takeaways from our biggest conferences of 2019.

I first met DATAMARK at an NG9-1-1 educational workshop and conversations continued from there about how Merced County can be proactive about implementing GIS data for NG9-1-1. The DATAMARK team’s cross-disciplinary expertise in public safety and GIS, as well as the work they have been conducting in support of California’s NG9-1-1 initiative, makes them a true partner and leader in GIS innovation.

Gene Barrera_Merced Quote

Gene Barrera, GIS Manager, Merced County

As a small rural county, we don’t have the time or staff for labor-intensive processes like driving the entire county to tag addresses that were missing for whatever reason in our dataset. We needed a public safety and GIS expert to come in and quickly help us meet the fairly strict GIS data standards for Next-Gen 9-1-1. From applying for a state grant to training the staff, DATAMARK provided Washington County with alternative and cost-effective methods to collect and validate missing address data and get it into a software solution that benefits the entire county.”

Washington County FL

Clint Erickson, Washington County Board of County Commissioners, E911 Mapping and Addressing and E911 Coordinator

As we recover from Hurricane Michael and begin advancing our technology to increase public safety, we’re relying on DATAMARK’s expertise in solving the addressing challenges affecting our ability to keep our community safe and move to NG9-1-1. We have only a part-time employee responsible for public safety GIS, but with DATAMARK’s software, training and services we can improve our street addressing issues and create high-quality, reliable GIS data that supports call takers in identifying reliable locations of our 9-1-1 callers to dispatch first responders. DATAMARK also provided us with sound advice and guidance in securing state grant money to fund the project.

Jackson County Sheriff’s Office

Jeff Johnson, Director of E9-1-1 and Communications System, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office