By Lela Garlington, The Commercial Appeal
Original publication date: Dec. 27

Shelby County, Tenn. — Starting some time next year, a company is expected to start making a computerized map of all the roads, streets, byways and highways of Shelby County.

Recently, the Shelby County 911 district board voted to hire a consultant to help them write what qualifications and experience will be necessary when it releases its requests for proposals.

“We need one base map that covers the entire county that is seamless,” said director Raymond Chiozza at a recent Shelby County Emergency Communications District 911 board meeting. “Our backs are against the wall. We have to do it now.”

Chiozza said a newer 911 technology is expected to be in place within five years making a seamless mapping system a priority.

Whoever is hired will be driving around in vehicles throughout the county verifying street names. Mapping the entire county may cost $1 million or more and take 1 1/2 to 2 years to finish.

The company also will point out any discrepancies it finds and try to resolve them with the proper authorities if possible. In past years, Shelby County 911 systems technician and master street address guide coordinator Harold Truebger said developers may have slightly changed the name. “Millbranch Road is also Millbranch Drive and Mill Branch is two words in some sections. Those things slid through. It’s all the same street,” he said.

Another problem is when a new owner takes over an apartment complex and changes the name of the private streets within the complex.

As is the case now, all of the maps would be in a computer-aided design program — or CAD — in which all dispatch centers in Shelby County could assess. Currently each dispatch center operates its own computerized maps, but not all the centers have maps that go outside a city’s boundaries.

Similar sounding street names can have costly results.

In 2003, the Memphis Fire Department sent ambulances to the wrong address despite receiving the correct address three separate times from callers. Jim Wagner died later at a local hospital after it took 26 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to The Billiard Club.

Dispatchers sent an ambulance 10 miles south of the correct location to 2686 Kirby Road at Langsdale Cove — rather than to 2686 Kirby-Whitten. Memphis annexed that section of town about six months earlier. The location is a block south of Bartlett’s city limits but Bartlett did not respond.

As more and more people opt to have only a cell phone rather than a land line phone, knowing a person’s location is critical. Unlike a land line phone, cell phone users have to tell a dispatcher where they are.

“A base map will be hugely beneficial for any emergency – police, fire, ambulance and public works,” said Germantown Fire Chief Dennis Wolf.

Wolf said it is crucial when cities answer mutual aid calls or out of town electrical crews arrive to help in a disaster like an ice storm or a tornado.

One old standby mapping tool that Wolf and other fire crews have used in the past is no longer available.

“Handy Map” won’t be published after this year.

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