Next Generation 9-1-1

Location matters when verifying addresses and allocating resources

Across Canada, the public safety 9-1-1 community is facing a critical, pivotal moment in its history. The existing 9-1-1 system was designed in an era of landline telephones and assumes the calls are coming from fixed, known addresses. Today, most emergency calls originate from smartphones and IP devices, often while away from home. As a result, these changes are driving this historic evolution to next-generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).

What is next-generation 9-1-1?

NG9-1-1 is the transition of 9-1-1 from analogue systems to IP-based systems. The change will enhance emergency number (9-1-1) services to create a faster, more resilient system allowing voice, data, photos, videos and text messages to flow seamlessly from the public to 9-1-1.

What You Need to Know

  • National Internetworking

    NG9-1-1 will leverage 9-1-1 specific application functionality on an Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet) to add speed, redundancy and security to the telecommunications system, thereby supporting national internetworking of 9-1-1 services.

  • Enhanced Safety

    NG9-1-1 will enhance the safety of the Canadian public by allowing the use of new media and data for reporting emergencies and events; for example, streaming video from an emergency incident, sending photos of accident damage or of a fleeing suspect, or sending personal medical information–such information could greatly aid emergency responders and provide for greater situational awareness.

  • Improved Response Times

    The success of NG9-1-1 will be heavily dependent on authoritative GIS data and services to enable more efficacy in geospatial call routing, thereby helping to reduce emergency response times and save more lives and property–a primary goal of emergency responders and public safety management and stakeholders.

  • Timelines

    The CRTC directed all telecommunications providers to update their networks for NG9-1-1 voice services as of March 2022, and will keep working with them as they continue to modernize their networks to include additional services such as text messaging. Furthermore, the current analog 9-1-1 network is to be decommissioned beginning March 2025.

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Read the official CRTC Emergency Services Working Group FAQ

TIF92 GIS (Mapping) and Common Addressing

FAQ

Are you ready for Next Generation 9-1-1?

Esri Canada’s team of experts will conduct a Next Generation Assessment to ensure you’re prepared.

Address Manager

Optimize the creation, maintenance and use of authoritative addresses with Address Manager.

NG9-1-1 GIS Validator

Validate your GIS data to the NG9-1-1 NENA standard.

Public Safety - *GeoXchange*™

Streamline the flow of public safety grade GIS data, meet the gold standard of a 72-hour update cycle.

At-a-Glance: GIS for NG9-1-1

  • Why is NG9-1-1 Happening?

    The CRTC has mandated the modernization of 9-1-1 networks by March 2021. Emergency communications need to tap into current trends of location-enabled voice, text, photo, video or sensor-based messaging.

  • GIS is Mission Critical

    The coordinates of a mobile device will be used to route the call to the correct Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The coordinates of the call will be overlaid with the PSAP boundaries. To work properly, accurate and up-to-date GIS data is critical.

  • What Needs to be Accomplished?

    Timely aggregation of authoritative (local government) GIS data for NG9-1-1 is required to provide high accuracy address location verification, call routing, resource allocation and analysis capabilities.

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Powering Public Safety

The effectiveness of the NG9-1-1 system will be dependent on the GIS data it uses. What is required is a rapid update system that can consume and aggregate GIS data, built from authoritative sources which meet public safety (NENA) standards.

Together with the national Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG), Esri Canada has been engaged in developing the GIS data model and standards specification and is currently assisting organizations with their management processes with respect to civic addressing standards, data governance and NG9-1-1 strategic planning.

Powering Public Safety

New Brunswick Blazes the Trail on Getting its Data Ready for NG9-1-1

The New Brunswick 911 Bureau is responsible for ensuring the effective and efficient delivery of 9-1-1 service to the province. The Bureau has developed AddressNB, a point-based, web-centric civic address system, and is the aggregating authority for the New Brunswick Road Network (NBRN). Watch this video to find out how these two functional elements have significantly improved GIS data availability for 9-1-1 operations and paved the way for Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1).

Highlights

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