Emergency Communications Network Timeline
The History of 911
Geographic Information Systems
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Office is responsible for supporting Law Enforcement, Detention, EMS, Fire and Dispatch operations by providing the following services:
Location Validation: used for locating callers and responding units.
If you wish to verify that your address is listed in our 911 address database please e-mail your address information to gis@colliersheriff.org; include your address, name, phone number, and telephone service provider. We will contact you, via email, with confirmation.
Boundary Maintenance: Jurisdictional boundaries are used to determine which Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or Call Center, will handle every 911 call. The boundaries determine which Law Enforcement Agency, EMS Station and Fire Department will respond to each call. Additional boundaries determine appropriate Wrecker service as well as areas outside of Collier County.
Vehicle Routing: Vehicle Routing is used by responding emergency vehicles to determine the shortest, quickest, and most accessible roads when responding to calls for service. The GIS office maintains the virtual road network that facilitates this process.
Nearest Unit Dispatch: Based on GPS in each vehicle and the virtual road network developed for Vehicle Routing, Collier County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Fire Departments are dispatched based on the nearest unit to the call. Our goal is to reduce response times for all calls.
Map Display: The GIS office designs and builds digital maps used by the dispatchers and responding units.
Analysis: The GIS Office prepares maps that are used to analyze various aspects of emergency response with the goal of improving the efficiency of the responding agencies.
The Future of 911
Emergency response agencies across the nation are carefully transitioning from the current Enhanced 911 system (E911), which is based on the Analog land line phone system and tabular data, to the Next Generation 911 system (NG911) which is based on wireless devices, digital media and geospatial data. The GIS office is responsible for preparing the geospatial data for this system.
The current mapping systems used for dispatch are two dimensional (2D), whereas future systems will require three dimensional (3D) maps. The GIS office is starting develop processes for collecting and maintaining the data to support these 3D maps.
MAD-ICU (Mutual Aid Dispatch Interoperable Communication Unit) & MAT (Mutual Aid Tower)
These assets were purchased using the federal public safety grant (PSIC) and local 911 funds. This vehicle serves as a fully functional nine position 911 call taking center with radio dispatch functionality on all public safety radio bands. This resource is available for deployment to law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies throughout the State of Florida.
The mutual aid tower (MAT) may be moved locally to a large scale incident to augment or restore radio communications.
Mutual Aid Dispatch Interoperable Communications Unit
Inside of the Mutual Aid Dispatch Interoperable Communications Unit
The Mutual Aid Tower or MAT may be moved locally to a large scale incident to augment or
restore radio communications
