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A leader at the intersection of GIS and Public Safety

When most people talk about NG9-1-1, they talk about technology, like servers, schemas, and standards. But when Sandi Stroud talks about it, she emphasizes the people inside systems; from the PSAP manager worried about whether a call will route to the right dispatcher, to the vendor trying to interpret the latest NENA update without breaking what already works.

Sandi excels in the space between technical architecture and human experience. As Director of Public Safety at 1Spatial, she brings what can only be described as a sort of “systems empathy”: a rare ability to see how data, processes, and people connect, and to design solutions that serve them all.

Before joining 1Spatial in 2024, Sandi led Minnesota’s statewide transition toward NG9-1-1 as the 911 Program Manager and previously served as Deputy Geospatial Information Officer/Director of MnGeo. Across those roles, she learned that the success of NG9-1-1 isn’t about code or compliance, it’s about coherence. When every layer of a system aligns (the technology, the governance, the human workflow) emergency response becomes faster, and fundamentally more reliable.

At 1Spatial, she’s turning that insight into action, helping agencies translate complex standards into practical, people-centered outcomes. Her leadership has made 1Spatial a trusted partner for 9-1-1 authorities and GIS professionals alike, as she continues to bridge the gap between technical precision and the human urgency of saving lives.

From Local GIS Roots to Statewide Impact

Stroud’s background in GIS and public safety is both broad and deep. She wore the hat of a local GIS manager in Maryland and a regional GIS coordinator, before supporting federal public safety GIS programs. 

This hands-on experience honed her appreciation for the daily challenges GIS practitioners face. In 2019, she became Deputy GIO and Director of Minnesota’s Geospatial Information Office (MnGeo), where she focused on helping agencies transition from legacy 9‑1‑1 systems to NG9‑1‑1. 

Over five years, Stroud led development of Minnesota’s NG9‑1‑1 GIS Roadmap and facilitated statewide solutions that aligned with emerging standards. Her work in Minnesota culminated in her role as the state’s 9‑1‑1 Program Manager, where she managed the transition from analog 9‑1‑1 databases to an end-state NG9‑1‑1 system – establishing her as a thought leader and subject matter expert in 9‑1‑1 data networks. 

Throughout these roles, she consistently championed efficiency, transparency, and productivity in geospatial initiatives, laying a strong foundation for the practitioner-focused approach she brings to 1Spatial’s public safety mission.

Thought Leadership in NG9‑1‑1 Data Modernization

As NG9‑1‑1 emerged, Stroud was at the forefront of defining how GIS data modernization could save lives. Early on, she contributed to National Emergency Number Association (NENA) committees, helped author standards documentation, and even authored a URISA NG9‑1‑1 GIS workshop curriculum. 

This blend of standards expertise and on-the-ground experience makes her a credible voice on NG9‑1‑1 readiness. She has deployed statewide NG9‑1-1 solutions and launched commercial GIS products in the private sector, building best practices for data readiness. 

Stroud’s leadership is evident in her advocacy for modern, automated data management. She often contrasts “the old way” of manual, fragmented GIS data handling with a new paradigm of automation and integration at 1Spatial. Agencies still clinging to manual, siloed processes suffer slow updates and higher risk at the very moment they need certainty. 

Stroud argues that by embracing automated, rules-based validation, 9‑1‑1 authorities can bring new confidence and consistency to their data – keeping it current, accurate, and ready when lives are on the line. 

In her view, modernizing NG9‑1‑1 data management is more than an IT upgrade, but a life-saving imperative that GIS professionals must lead.

Driving Standards and Interoperability

A hallmark of Stroud’s leadership is her commitment to interoperability and standards alignment. She has been instrumental in initiatives like 1Spatial’s Interop Address and the NG9‑1‑1 Knowledge Gateway that help translate lofty standards into practical solutions. Her work on the NG9‑1‑1 Knowledge Gateway – a digital resource hub for 9‑1‑1 authorities, GIS professionals, and telecom partners – helps in navigating the NG9‑1‑1 transformation. 

Stroud continues to champion the concept of an “interop address” for every 9‑1‑1 caller location at industry conferences and webinars – essentially a standardized, validated civic address that transcends jurisdictional boundaries for seamless call routing. By promoting address interoperability, she tackles one of NG9‑1‑1’s toughest challenges: ensuring a 9‑1‑1 call can be transferred across city, county, or state lines without losing critical location information.

Through this platform, she shares insights on topics like new NENA i3 standards, the latest NG9‑1‑1 GIS Data Model, and best practices from early adopters. Stroud works closely with agencies to align their data with these standards. For example, under her direction 1Spatial’s solutions leverage the NENA NG9‑1‑1 GIS Data Model rules to validate local datasets (address points, road centerlines, emergency service boundaries, etc.), pinpointing any issues that violate the standards and need correction. She emphasizes open standards and transparency – ensuring that GIS data validation isn’t a mysterious “black box,” but a clear process where users see why a record failed and how to fix it. 

By keeping 1Spatial’s rules engine up to date with evolving NENA and FCC requirements, Stroud helps agencies stay compliant with i3 and beyond. The result is data that not only meets national standards but also earns the trust of local stakeholders through its consistency and clarity.

From Fragmented Data to the 1Spatial Way

Stroud often frames NG9‑1‑1 data improvement as moving from the old way to the 1Spatial way. In the past, GIS teams relied on labor-intensive QA – think spreadsheets and eyeballing maps – to catch errors. Every jurisdiction did things a bit differently, making data quality a patchwork and cross-border consistency a nightmare. 

Stroud saw first-hand how legacy 9‑1‑1 data practices led to silos and even costly rip-and-replace upgrades just to meet new requirements. 

Under this old paradigm, agencies would often receive compliance reports without understanding the failures – “hardly the transparency you want for mission-critical information,” Stroud says. And when bad data slipped through, the price was paid in misrouted calls and delayed dispatch.

The 1Spatial way that Stroud advocates is a unified, automated approach to NG9‑1‑1 GIS data management. Instead of one-off fixes, smart validation rules run continuously to ensure every address, road, and boundary is correct and up-to-date. Agencies configure business rules once, then let the system flag errors across all datasets uniformly. 

This rules-based workflow enforces the same standard everywhere, so nothing falls through the cracks. The pay-off is tangible: data that meets NG9‑1‑1 standards, and no 9‑1‑1 call is ever misrouted due to bad data. 

Stroud underscores that automation doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel or discarding existing investments. In fact, she promotes solutions like 1Spatial’s ArcGIS Pro integrations that let GIS analysts validate and clean NG9‑1‑1 data within their familiar Esri environment. 

By avoiding forced “rip-and-replace” changes, this approach minimizes disruption and builds on tools professionals already know – a clear nod to Stroud’s practitioner-first philosophy. Above all, the automated, unified method brings speed and accuracy: with up-to-date GIS data, 9‑1‑1 calls can be routed to the correct PSAP faster and with greater confidence.

Practitioner-First and Mission-Focused

One of Stroud’s defining traits is her practitioner-first mindset. Having started as a lone GIS specialist at a local jurisdiction, she deeply understands the resource constraints and silos that many GIS professionals in public safety face. 

This perspective drives her to design solutions that empower users rather than overwhelm them. She insists on transparency, so that every GIS coordinator from a small county to a large state agency can trust the validation process and understand results. 

Stroud’s practitioner ethos aligns with her ultimate mission: improving emergency response outcomes. “It’s not just about checking a compliance box; it’s about making sure every 9‑1‑1 call gets to the right place with the right information, which ultimately saves lives,” she emphasizes. 

By advocating for GIS data readiness, rules-based validation, and a culture of continuous improvement, Sandi Stroud is shaping a future where GIS-driven emergency response is faster, smarter, and more reliable. Thanks to her efforts, a more-human system is coming into focus. 

Ready to bring that same clarity and confidence to your NG9-1-1 journey? Connect with us today to assess your readiness and start building data you can trust — and lives can depend on.

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