Last year I had the chance to work with Henry County TN’s 911 group on a software migration project. I moved the organization off a basic commercial GIS product to an open source enterprise server. Overall it was a great project with a defined end goal and a lot of flexibility in making it happen.
Once the project ended I never stopped working on the database and the tools. Over the last few months I’ve had the chance to turn the database into something that is 100% compliant with the State of TN’s NG911 System. I present the TN NG911 Server.
What does it look like?
- Fulcrum for Mobile
- QGIS for a GIS Desktop
- PostGIS/Postgresql for the database
- Geoserver to provide OGC compliant services
The workflow is simple. Field Personnel go out and collect data using menus set up in Fulcrum.
Data is stored in PostGIS/PostgreSQL and edited with custom menus in QGIS. The database is served out through Geoserver as an OGC service.
Data is exported from the server at night to the the states ESRI database.
The bonuses to this approach:
- 100% TN NG911 Compliant
- Cloud Deployment Or Onsite Deployment
- Local TN Support for your organization
- Can Interface with Computer Aided Dispatch Systems through managed Exports.
- Quality Checks on your attributes
- Topology checks for your data
- Unlimited Desktop Deployments for everyone
- Can work with TN’s LIDAR Data and TN’s Imagery Services.
- Handles more than just the 3 data layers the state needs for NG911
Granted it’s not 100% open source as Fulcrum is a commercial product. Fulcrum will need to be purchased but it’s only a fraction of what you could be spending on software and it has more uses than just address collection.
The TN NG911 Server has a solid deployment that’s been in production a year. If you’re interested in integrating Open Source GIS into your 911 system you should at least look at this approach. Everyone needs good clean data.
Future plans have a plugin and more quality checks on the data. For Version 1 though this is very solid and very functional.
What about the NENA Standard? The TN Standard is not NENA Compliant! Well – stay tuned for more news.
