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For a few days in December, the United States was officially late by 4.8 microseconds.

A windstorm in Boulder, Colorado, where more than a dozen atomic clocks are housed in a federal laboratory, knocked out power to the lab, causing America’s time standard to drift by less than five millionths of a second.

For most people, 4.8 microseconds are meaningless (consider that it takes roughly 350,000 microseconds to blink). But engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were quick to point out something important: whether a discrepancy matters depends entirely on what’s built on it.

In financial markets, telecommunications, GPS systems, and critical infrastructure, microseconds are load bearing. Next Generation 9-1-1 is designed to move faster, route smarter, and deliver richer context to responders. But like the atomic clocks in Boulder, the weak link is what connects them, and what they trust as truth.

For NG9-1-1, that is geospatial data, such as address points, road centerlines, and jurisdiction boundaries. If those inputs drift, even slightly, everything downstream inherits the error. That could translate into calls routing to the wrong public safety answering point (PSAP), followed by an erosion in confidence.

Modern public safety agencies operate in a dynamic environment where data accuracy and real-time situational awareness are essential. Without reliable foundational data, even the best strategies and technologies fall short. 

In the piece below, we explain why automated, rules-based geospatial validation is essential for NG9-1-1, and why agencies that keep trusting manual processes are measuring the future with yesterday’s clock.

Why NG9-1-1 Depends on Quality Geospatial Data

NG9-1-1 runs on one simple premise: the system must know exactly where an emergency is happening. Every call is routed, prioritized, and dispatched based on location. And if that data is even slightly off, it cascades to everything downstream.

For years, many agencies have managed that data with spreadsheets, manual spot checks, and one-off QA processes. That approach worked when call volumes were lower and systems were simpler, but it doesn’t hold up in today’s environment. NG9-1-1 demands speed, precision, and consistency at a scale that manual processes just cannot match.

As call volumes rise and public expectations increase, manual workflows become bottlenecks, with GIS analysts juggling multiple data sources. When agencies need to share data across jurisdictions or integrate with regional and statewide systems, even small inconsistencies can cause delays and confusion, both for staff and for the public they serve.

At the same time, public safety operations are moving fast toward cloud-native platforms, AI-assisted tools, and real-time data sharing. But those modern systems only work as well as the data feeding them. Without a more reliable foundation, advanced technology just amplifies existing problems.

That’s where 1Spatial comes in. Instead of relying on manual checks, solutions like 1Engage and 1Locate automate geospatial data validation using clear, rules-based logic aligned with NG9-1-1 standards. Analysts define the rules once, and the system applies them consistently across every address, road, and boundary. No repetitive QA, no guesswork.

What’s more, the process is transparent. When data fails validation, teams can see exactly why and where, making fixes faster and easier to manage over time. And because these tools integrate directly into Esri’s ArcGIS environment, agencies don’t have to rip out existing systems or retrain staff from scratch. Analysts can remain in familiar tools while automation does the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

The result is faster validation, higher confidence in the data, and a GIS foundation that can keep pace with modern public safety challenges.

Next Steps: Modernizing GIS for NG9-1-1

If your agency is ready to move beyond manual GIS workflows, start with a look at how 1Engage and 1Locate handle automated geospatial validation and location intelligence.

Test drive 1Engage inside ArcGIS Pro to see how rules-based validation flags issues automatically and saves analyst time. 

Consider scheduling a custom demo to explore how these tools fit into your existing workflows and support NG9-1-1 goals. The combination of automation, integration, and transparency provides a productivity boost, yes, but it’s also how we deliver better public safety outcomes in an era where data accuracy truly matters.