DDTI Introduces Real-Time Maintenance Solution
Tuesday August 12th 2008
Filed Under Digital Data Technologies
Solution allows agencies to update addresses, centerlines in-house
COLUMBUS, OHIO - No matter the agency, the problem is the same - obtaining, merging, and sharing new addresses and other data that is typically maintained at the local level. In a 9-1-1 environment, accuracy matters, and with neighborhoods growing and changing every day, it can be difficult to ensure you have the most recent data available from which to route your first responders.
“We know that the address is the common link to many government databases,” said DDTI President Ron Cramer. “So it only makes sense that maintenance is the key to upholding the quality and accuracy of evolving datasets. For many agencies, that’s easier said than done.”
Digital Data Technologies, Inc. (DDTI®), has developed its AccuGlobe® Data Maintenance™ solution to address that issue and make data updates available in Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to enhance response effectiveness. Unveiled at this year’s Urban Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and National Emergency Number Association (NENA) Addressing Conference in Portland, DDTI’s Data Maintenance also eliminates versioning, symptomatic of multiple addressing authorities making multiple changes without any reliable way to merge them to one database.
DDTI’s Data Maintenance process is simple. Users open their standard AccuGlobe application and log in using a username and password. They select their project and then, via an Internet connection, have access to edit data in their predetermined jurisdiction.
Editing capabilities include adding, moving and deleting address points and roadways and assigning address numbers. With the completion of any action, the ‘Commit Edits’ selection immediately makes the new information available to all database users, and can be automatically disseminated to the 9-1-1 community as a scheduled daily task via the AccuGlobe Web Update.
Built-in technology automatically identifies errors made during the editing process via its Quality Control (QC) Error Layer. Common errors include assigning address numbers that exceed, or are out of sync with, a road segment’s given range and assigning an unapproved or unrecognized road name abbreviation. For example, if a user adds an even numbered address on the odd numbered side of the road, that address point would be flagged with a parity error. It would remain flagged until the user corrects or overrides the error, at which point the action taken would be logged in the historical audit trail.
This historical log displays the date, time and by whom each change was committed. Each entry contains a summary of the actions taken, and users also have the option to undo, or ‘revert’, each item in the historical log.
DDTI’s Data Maintenance solution also creates an automatic back-up of the data.
“Many clients tell us they and their adjacent agencies have spent so much manpower collecting and recollecting data but still were unable to achieve the comprehensive and user-friendly dataset DDTI provided in a fraction of the time,” said Cramer. “We have always offered some form of maintenance support, but the impact of this comprehensive Data Maintenance solution is much more immediate and far-reaching.”
DDTI’s first generation Maintenance solution allowed multiple agency contacts to make their respective edits and submit the files to DDTI for merging and 9-1-1 QC, before being pushed back out to the server where they could process a web update to obtain the most current data.
While this solution was ahead of its time, time was the very reason it wasn’t an optimum solution.
“If minutes and sometimes seconds make the difference for 9-1-1, these agencies can’t wait to receive updated data,” Cramer said. “We have mapped a lot of counties and worked with a lot of PSAPs, so we know their first priority is having the accurate data to get their responders to a distress call. This solution gives them that accuracy, in a timely manner and does not disrupt the normal daily workflow environment.”
Digital Data Technologies, Inc., is a premier full-service vendor specializing in the creation and dissemination of Geographical Information Systems data that aid in the services provided by county government agencies. For more information about DDTI, please visit www.ddti.net. To request a demonstration of AccuGlobe Data Maintenance, please call 888-800-4003 or email sales@ddti.net.