2020 Spring OKSCAUG User Group Meeting at Edmond

Next Generation 9-1-1 is completely changing the role of GIS as it relates to 9-1-1 and Public Safety. Historically, GIS has been used for everything from tax collection to impervious surface mapping and, although it’s played a role in 9-1-1 for many years, it has been almost an “afterthought”. For many PSAPs, GIS is important but only after they’ve purchased necessary equipment and other needs. For those of us working in GIS, the work we do now provides the very foundation of how 9-1-1 calls are routed by dispatch centers. GIS therefore has become the very first line of first response, and our work has an impact on incident response that occurs even before the dispatcher takes the call. The importance of GIS as it relates to 9-1-1 now has a sense of urgency that we’ve never seen before! We find ourselves tasked not only with new responsibilities but also with the need to collaborate with others in ways that effectively create a new organization – and this requires creating a new culture.

Culture defines who you are as an organization and can have a strong impact on business. NG9-1-1 is presenting a new way of doing business to both the GIS and Public Safety communities alike, demanding a marriage of sorts between GIS departments and Public Safety groups at a local, regional and state level. We must understand and embrace not only what this new community of professionals needs to look like and how it needs to act, but also what shared values and beliefs need to be agreed upon. Likewise, this new community needs to represent and honor both (all) parties individually and as partners. In this presentation, we’ll learn how to overcome historic silos and build crosswalks to other parts of our organization. We’ll discuss some of the key elements of creating a new organizational culture and explore how to apply this directly to GIS departments and Public Safety groups as a community – with an eye specifically toward NG9-1-1 and beyond.