Ark-Tex Council of Governments Updates Its 911 Address Data Management Tool

Established in 1969, the Ark-Tex Council of Governments (ATCOG) is a voluntary association of local governments representing the counties of Bowie, Cass, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar, Morris, Red River, and Titus Counties in Texas, and Miller County in Arkansas. It is one of Texas’ 24 regional councils of government created to provide services and support that address the needs and interests of multiple counties within a region.

One of the many programs supported by ATCOG is the 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Program, which provides fully enhanced 911 services for the counties ATCOG serves. Rural address management is under the purview of the 9-1-1 program.

William Wagner, 9-1-1 geographic information system (GIS) Manager for ATCOG, explained the work involved with address management. He said, “Whenever new structures are built, for example, new houses in a subdivision, addresses are added to the new lots. Sometimes an older address will need to be changed because it doesn’t align with modern standards.”

ATCOG follows standards and best practices published by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) for 911 address data creation and maintenance. NENA has published its Standard for NG9-1-1 (Next Generation 9-1-1) GIS Data Model, as well as guidelines for collecting and maintaining GIS data that supports 911 services, such as address data.

For several years, ATCOG managed their address data using a set of addressing tools within ArcMap. As Esri began to plan for the deprecation of ArcMap, ATCOG wanted to migrate to ArcGIS Pro to stay current with Esri’s technology and reduce the amount of training for newly hired staff.

“We have limited GIS personnel to hire, and many of the people we hire do not have a GIS background, so we are taking people with strong computer skills and teaching them GIS,” said Ray McCarty, 9-1-1 GIS Technician for ATCOG. “We did not want to bring on new people, train them on ArcMap, and then have to teach them how to use ArcGIS Pro later. Making the transition to a tool that worked with ArcGIS Pro made the most sense, but in researching a solution, we couldn’t find a prebuilt tool with the same capabilities.”

ATCOG utilized the consulting services of an Esri partner, Argis Solutions, to find a path forward with a new tool based on ArcGIS Pro. Argis noted that Esri’s Address Data Management solution contained most of the functionality of ATCOG’s ArcMap tools and could be extended to include additional functionalities needed to meet NENA standards.

Argis evaluated ATCOG’s current system to determine if any updates and additions would be needed for implementation of the Address Data Management solution. They migrated from a standalone ArcGIS Server instance to an ArcGIS Enterprise base deployment that included access to branch versioning to support multiuser editing.

The Address Data Management solution was used as a base platform. Argis added optional or conditional attribute fields in the NENA Standard for NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model and set up new attribute rules as well as ArcGIS Pro tasks to automatically populate values within these additional attributes. The attribute rules automatically run to calculate and validate attribute values, and the tasks are wizard-like tools that conveniently walk users through the steps necessary to complete a workflow. These configurations help ATCOG fulfill NENA Standard for NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model requirements with less effort than before, and with more accuracy.

For example, when creating a new site address point, the user sketches a line from the road centerline location to the structure of the desired new address point. An address point and number are created automatically, after which site address characteristics can be added. In ArcGIS Pro, attribute fields are automatically populated with data from the attribute rules and tasks. Any remaining fields unique to the site may require the user to manually enter information such as owner/occupant details.

After using the Address Data Management solution for just six months, ATCOG has already realized a great deal of benefit. Speaking about the advantages of transitioning to the tool, ATCOG highlighted its seamless integration with ArcGIS Pro, creating an editing environment that was familiar to experienced GIS professionals and easy to learn for those with little or no GIS experience. Additionally, Wagner said, “It’s more accurate. Previously, we had to create address numbers manually based on what side of the road it was on and the neighboring addresses. You don’t end up with duplicate addresses.”

McCarty added, “It builds in the required fields that were sometimes lacking and would return back with errors.”

Automated workflow tasks and automatic calculation of attribute values have decreased the number of errors reported during NG911 data submission by nearly 80 percent. With fewer errors to fix, ATCOG can now focus on submitting mission-critical data updates to their NG911 service provider more frequently than before.

The process of adding new addresses is much faster than before, cutting the time required to correctly and completely input data per address in half. This gives ATCOG’s addressing and GIS staff more time back to focus on other work. It’s also more intuitive and easier to follow, with staff requiring less outside support to complete the data input process. McCarty noticed a significant reduction in questions and requests for help from colleagues. “It was a 90 percent drop. I get very few calls versus what I used to,” he said.

A lasting benefit of the Address Data Management solution is that it is easily configurable and can accommodate new requirements and workflows as they emerge. As enhancements to the Address Data Management solution are released in the future, the simplified and standardized addressing workflows delivered as part of the base solution will continue to coexist with domain-specific configurations, such as the ones Argis implemented for ATCOG.