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In 1871, as the first flames began devouring Chicago, a watchman sounded the alarm … at the wrong location. 

A shopkeeper with an alarm system also sent an alert, unsuccessfully, and firefighters rushed to the scene, finding no fire. By the time they realized their mistake, an inferno was already crossing the river. 

The consequences of this small, completely preventable geographic error sent shockwaves throughout the city. And while today’s public safety leaders might scoff at that 19th-century blunder, the shopkeeper’s mistake still reverberates to this day.  

We pour millions into new Next-Gen Core Services (NGCS) systems and call routing tech, chasing ROI and rapid deployment, but all that innovation can be subverted by a single neglected piece: the accuracy of GIS data. 

It’s a relatively small aspect but with outsized impacts; and the payoff for getting it right saves lives, as every 9-1-1 call hits the mark when it matters most. In this short video, you'll learn why pinpointing exactly where an emergency happens is critical to NG9-1-1 success, how local GIS data fuels accurate call routing, and what federal mandates mean for telecom and public safety agencies alike. 

Whether you're managing deployment timelines or planning long-term NGCS investments, this is the spatial data insight you can’t afford to ignore.

Location-Based Routing Lives or Dies on GIS

Public safety depends on knowing exactly where an emergency is. Every 911 call, whether its the closest address to your cell phone, that telephone line that comes with your cable service or a VoIP phone in an office, all of those addresses must be validated against GIS data and steered to the correct Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) by mapping the caller’s location to jurisdictional boundaries. This makes GIS validation a non-negotiable foundation of NG9-1-1. 

Deploying substandard GIS data introduces errors that cause 911 calls to route incorrectly, significantly increasing response time – the very scenario NG9-1-1 is meant to prevent. In other words, next-gen call servers mean little if the map underneath is wrong. Yet, many NG9-1-1 projects treat GIS data readiness as an afterthought – a box to check late in the process. Some NGCS vendors require “perfect” GIS data versus the adequate data needed to make the NG9-1-1 migration.

As such, agencies may not discover data problems until late-stage testing or cutover, when fixes are hardest to make. By the time the NGCS mapping functions go live, those hidden errors surface as invalid locations or misrouted calls, forcing emergency fixes and deployment delays, delaying an entire NG9-1-1 migration. 

Cooperation with GIS teams across dozens of agencies validating their maps – so that there are no overlaps or gaps in the region’s roads, address points, or service boundaries – is essential for a multi-jurisdiction NG9-1-1 deployment to function as intended. The message is clear: treating GIS data quality as a minor detail is a recipe for delays, cost overruns, and even life-threatening call failures.

Lead the Way (and Reap the ROI)

On the one hand, overlooking GIS data quality can jeopardize your RFP win by causing implementation stumbles, or erode your return on investment through avoidable delays and rework. On the other hand, making GIS data a first-class priority yields a triple dividend: faster deployment timelines, clean regulatory compliance, and the ultimate ROI – lives saved through more efficient response. 

The good news is that ensuring GIS readiness no longer means brute-forcing months of manual data cleanup. 1Spatial’s NG9-1-1 Core Services (NGCS) solution – integrating the 1Engage for NG9-1-1 and 1Locate products – is designed to make GIS data support location-based routing from day one of your deployment. .

Critically, 1Engage doesn’t ask your GIS staff to ditch their familiar tools. The solution is available as an ArcGIS Pro add-in, so a GIS analyst can validate and provision new address data to the NGCS without ever leaving their Esri editing session. Additionally, 1Spatial can help you better understand to what level the data needs to be “valid” in order to make the transition away from tabular 911 data which saves money and time in a transitional deployment.

Ready to ensure your NG9-1-1 deployment stays on schedule and on target? Book a call with the 1Spatial public safety team to talk through your timeline and requirements. We’ll show you how to meet standards faster, avoid costly GIS-related delays, and turn accurate data into a quicker, safer ROI for your community. And when the next crisis hits, emergency responders won’t rush past the fire.