Indianapolis, Dec. 11, 2019 – DATAMARK® announced two wins in the state of Indiana: Dearborn County and the City of Bloomington selected the company’s Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) geographic information systems (GIS) services and solutions. As Dearborn County begins its transition to NG9-1-1, the county requires support in the preparation and validation of its public safety GIS data. DATAMARK services will also help the City of Bloomington ensure the accuracy of boundary datasets and verify the integrity of the city’s GIS data for computer-aided dispatch (CAD), as well as the transition to NG9-1-1.

Dearborn County recently received federal grant funding for the transition to NG9-1-1. The county’s selection of DATAMARK solutions will ensure its GIS data meets data structure and data quality standards to provide accurate NG9-1-1 call routing. Upon completion, the county’s GIS data will be ready to provision data to any ESInet core services package (ECRF and LVF). The project also enables the county to establish workflows to update their dispatch systems with the same data being provisioned into the ESInet.

“We view DATAMARK as a trusted partner,” said Jared Teaney, 911 Director, Dearborn County. “With public safety and GIS experts, as well as tried-and-true software solutions, the team is able to help the county accomplish its transition to NG9-1-1.”

Funds will be used for DATAMARK services and solutions, including:

• DATAMARK VEP (Validate-Edit-Provision) – An industry-leading Software as a Service (SaaS) product that supports ongoing address point, centerline, MSAG, ALI comparisons, ETL, evaluation tools, dissolved boundary checks, and error/validation reporting of geometry, topology, and attribution.
• DATAMARK QAP (Quality Assurance Plan) – Assessing the current state of road and addressing workflows.
• DATAMARK ACE (Address Comparison and Evaluation) – Comparing master address sources to other sources containing address points (i.e., trash records, parcels, utility databases, etc.) and identifying address candidates not within the master address data source.

The City of Bloomington will receive custom GIS data support services and training that will improve GIS data needed for dispatch and response via the city’s CAD system. This work will also prepare the city’s public safety GIS data for the city’s eventual move to NG9-1-1.

“Assuring the quality of our public safety GIS data is essential to the overall performance of our dispatch system,” said Laura Haley, GIS Manager, City of Bloomington. “We selected the DATAMARK team because of their expertise in both public safety needs and GIS.”

DATAMARK’s team of GIS and public safety experts offer a breadth of knowledge that helps jurisdictions across the United States in their NG9-1-1 transitions. Because DATAMARK VEP does not require a GIS expert to upload, edit, and validate GIS data, all stakeholders can participate in the production of data regardless of GIS experience.

“As they say, location, location, location,” said Brian MacMurdo, Public Safety Subject Matter Expert, DATAMARK, Michael Baker International. “And in our industry, location refers to that of an individual in need of public safety assistance. Both Dearborn County and the city of Bloomington recognize the importance of accurate, high-quality GIS data for public safety. The DATAMARK team of public safety and GIS experts looks forward to working with both clients as they implement our solutions and services.”