— COMMAND & COORDINATION
Emergency response is moving beyond two dimensions.
For decades, location in emergency response has largely meant an address, parcel, or latitude and longitude. That information remains essential, but in a multi-story building, it may only tell responders where the structure is.
A 9-1-1 caller could be on the 12th floor of an apartment building, in a basement hospital corridor, or inside a classroom several levels above ground. Knowing the building is only the beginning.
One structure. Many possible locations.
Schools, hospitals, hotels, office towers, apartments, and mixed-use facilities increasingly require responders to understand more than an XY coordinate.
Without reliable vertical context, crews may reach the correct building and still have to determine the right floor, entrance, stairwell, or room. Dispatchers and incident commanders may have the same challenge when trying to coordinate resources across a complex structure.
The result can be valuable time spent searching, reconciling information, and navigating uncertainty.
01
Add the Z-axis
Treat floor and vertical position as part of the location picture, alongside address and latitude/longitude.
02
Build indoor context
Connect location data with floor plans, entrances, access routes, stairwells, hazards, and other information responders need inside complex structures.
03
Make location operational
The value of vertical data depends on whether dispatch, responder applications, mapping systems, and incident command tools can use it during an active response.
04
Prepare for more complex environments
As emergency incidents increasingly unfold inside dense, multi-level facilities, agencies need systems and standards capable of supporting precise indoor and vertical location.
FROM THE FIELD
Technical signals
GIS SERVICES
Smith County expands GIS services for dispatch efficiency
Smith County, Texas, approved an amendment allowing its information technology and GIS departments to provide dispatch mapping support to surrounding counties.
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
CISA scraps 6 free cyber assessments for critical infrastructure
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has stopped offering six free cybersecurity assessments to critical infrastructure organizations, including Cyber Resilience Reviews and Ransomware Readiness Assessments, after losing roughly a third of its workforce.
DFR
Sheriff’s Office launches Drone as First Responder pilot program
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office launched a five-week Drone as First Responder (DFR) pilot program on September 14 with Skydio, aiming to provide deputies with live video before they arrive at certain emergency scenes.
SPONSORED BRIEFING
Esri Public Safety eBrief: ArcGIS Velocity Migration Guide
Esri published a migration guide for agencies still running ArcGIS GeoEvent Server ahead of its planned retirement.
REGULATION & OVERSIGHT
Public safety & GIS updates
Georgia adopted GovRAMP as its statewide framework
Vendors selling cloud-based public safety and GIS platforms to Georgia state agencies will need GovRAMP verification, and full compliance with GovRAMP across all cloud-related contracts.
Elveo eyes public-safety, critical users as key D2D customers
Elveo, the new satellite direct-to-device company formed from the merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace, says that public safety and critical infrastructure users are a primary target market for their low-Earth-orbit connectivity.
Maine 911 centers see potential in AI tech
Maine 9-1-1 centers are testing AI primarily on non-emergency workloads while keeping emergency calls with human dispatchers.
Lake County: How to find your evacuation zone
Lake County, California, used its Genasys Protect evacuation map as the Lucas Fire prompted evacuation orders and warnings around Upper Lake and the Mendocino National Forest on September 10.
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK
WGIC report: Trustworthy, decision-grade geospatial data
The World Geospatial Industry Council has released a framework for determining when geospatial data is reliable enough for operational decisions as AI generates more inferred and synthetic spatial data. The report defines six properties of “decision-grade” data.
Resources & events
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Conference and Exposition
IACP 2026 Annual
October 24-27 · Orlando, Florida
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Public Safety Conference
Oklahoma
October 25-28 · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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INDUSTRY INTEL
Empowering 911 Call-Taking Training with Generative AI
Vanderbilt University researchers tested generative AI as a training tool for 9-1-1 call-takers through a six-month deployment with Metro Nashville’s Department of Emergency Communications.
