March 24, 2006 -- Columbus, OH— They say the fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line. Citizens in Holmes county can rest easy knowing their emergency dispatch system has the capability to provide such a route – direct, efficient and accurate – thanks to Digital Data Technologies, Inc.’s successful implementation of their Location Based Response System (LBRS) road centerline and addressing data.

“We drove every road, mapped every address, and recorded every milepost in Holmes County,” said DDTI Project Manager Brian Kienle. “So many communities are growing and evolving, but the 9-1-1 mapping can rarely keep pace. Field verification– being there and seeing it first-hand– is the only way we can accurately capture the data that these counties will ultimately use to save lives. That’s the quality assurance you get with LBRS data.”

The LBRS-grade data will enable dispatchers to accurately map wireline and potentially, wireless calls to 9-1-1.

“There is no substitute for geographic information collected in the field,” said Erik Parker, Holmes County GIS Director. “This is especially true for address points in a 9-1-1 dispatch setting. The use of road centerlines exclusively in 9-1-1 simply is not adequate, particularly in rural settings where houses may be hundreds of feet off the public road and/or may share a long lane between many houses. Address ranges on road centerlines just cannot help with this level of detail the way an absolute coordinate on each structure is able to do”.

The State of Ohio’s LBRS initiative, led by the Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program (OGRIP), was designed to improve the state’s overall road inventory, including the identification of unreported roads and update of municipal road inventories– a task outside the realm of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

Establishing this LBRS data provides for more detailed local map data that can oftentimes introduce additional roadway safety funding opportunities. The data collection process will also clean and update the engineer’s existing address database.

DDTI completed the in-field data collection and successfully implemented the county’s maps ahead of their committed 90-day turnaround. Company protocol entails the collection of additional county asset information that can impact emergency vehicle routing, including one-way restrictions, traffic control devices, railroad crossings, speed limits, school zones, and bridge and culvert locations.

About Digital Data Technologies, Inc.

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 accurate location of wireline and wireless calls. To learn more about LBRS or for more information on how DDTI® can assist with an LBRS project, visit the DDTI® trade show booth at the GIS-T conference March 27–29 in Columbus, Ohio, or call toll free 1-888-800-4003.