Lake Forest will have access to the web version of MapOffice beginning June 1st. The month of May was spent preparing the base data needed to get MapOffice up and running, which involved loading previous GIS data into the GIS Consortium standardized database.

The Village of Norridge has begun mapping out traffic accident information in an effort to try and limit the amount of accidents in high traffic areas and understand why accidents occur in low traffic areas. A map was created using data provided by the police department detailing the locations of traffic accidents by month. Accident locations were added to the map and categorized by type (property damage, personal injury, village property, fatality). Eventually, as data from previous months is added to the database, patterns will begin to emerge.

As a new member of the GIS Consortium, the top priority in Lake Forest has been getting data ready for New World. New World used in some of the other Consortium communities, is a CAD software that uses GIS to map out the location of where calls are coming from.

During an emergency event, the type of event, the extent of the area affected, and the number of issues occurring as a result of the event are just some of the factors that need to be processed, organized, and reviewed by local government staff to determine the most appropriate course of action. Perhaps the greatest challenge of any emergency response is controlling where information is coming from and which pieces of information are more critical than others. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) as a tool in all stages of the emergency management process brings a spatial component to the planning and implementation of an action plan, helping to visualize all relevant information for a more efficient and successful community response.

The City of Park Ridge, IL has recently invested in a new software application that enhances its ability to provide emergency alerts to its residents. The application, going by the name Everbridge Aware for Citizen Alerts, is a notification sytem that will call people on their phone and inform that about emregencies as well as other helpful non-emergency updates. The data in the system is supplied to the city by willful residents who fill out their information via the city’s website. Residents will give at least one phone number but have the option to supply a cell phone number, a business phone number or even an e-mail address. When an emergency or important event comes up, the system will send a message to the first number that a resident provided and wait for a confirmation of receipt from that resident. If the system does not receive a confirmation from the resident it will try the next method of choice that was outlined by the resident during the application process whether it be another phone number, text message or e-mail.

Although it is possible to put a number on the purchase price of a device that notifies people of an emergency, giving people amble time to reach safety is priceless. Like all Public Safety personnel who pride themselves in the art of providing a safe place for their residents to live, the Village of Morton Grove, IL Fire Department is no different. They continue to look for new ways to ensure that they know their town and they know what their residents need.

Public Safety plays a crucial role in the day to day activities of Village of Lincolnshire, IL. The Village of Lincolnshire Police Department believes that their daily activities help support a safe and vibrant community. A crucial operational aspect of the Police Department is conducted 24 hours, 7 days a week, all year long is Dispatch. The Dispatch Department and the highly trained officers are responsible for receiving and dispatching appropriate resources for all emergency and non emergency activities in the Village. The major focus of their operation is to respond to all calls placed to 911, dispatch resources, and relay information to officers in the field. Mapping is a major factor in this operation from locating the call in dispatch and to reporting location information to the officers in the field. Without highly accurate, detailed, and up to date mapping data would create a major challenge in the emergency response cycle.

Police, Fire, and EMS dispatch plays a very important and crucial role for any State, County, City, or Village; and any Dispatcher, Police officer, Firemen, or EMT will tell you that timing and accurate information is everything. The Village of Glenview utilizes Geography Information Systems (GIS) by integrating GIS data into their New World Systems (software mapping applications) for accurate computer aided dispatch. GIS and NWS give dispatchers the ability to supply all Police, Fire, and EMS with the most up to date address locations.

Public Safety plays a crucial role in the day to day activities of Village of Glencoe, IL. The Village of Glencoe Public Safety Department believes that their daily activities help support a safe and vibrant community. A crucial operational aspect of the Public Safety Department is conducted 24 hours, 7 days a week, all year long is Dispatch. The Dispatch Department and the highly trained officers are responsible for receiving and dispatching appropriate resources for all emergency and non emergency activities in the Village. The major focus of their operation is to respond to all calls placed to 911, dispatch resources, and relay information to officers in the field. Mapping is a major factor in this operation from locating the call in dispatch and to reporting location information to the officers in the field. Without highly accurate, detailed, and up to date mapping data would create a major challenge in the emergency response cycle.

Public Safety plays a crucial role in the day to day activities of Village of Deerfield, IL. The Village of Deerfield Police Department believes that their daily activities help support a safe and vibrant community. A crucial operational aspect of the Police Department is conducted 24 hours, 7 days a week, all year long is Dispatch. The Dispatch Department and the highly trained officers are responsible for receiving and dispatching appropriate resources for all emergency and non emergency activities in the Village. The major focus of their operation is to respond to all calls placed to 911, dispatch resources, and relay information to officers in the field. Mapping is a major factor in this operation from locating the call in dispatch and to reporting location information to the officers in the field. Without highly accurate, detailed, and up to date mapping data would create a major challenge in the emergency response cycle.

Of all the services provided by local municipalities around the world, public safety is arguably the most recognizable and widely supported. Everyone wants to feel that they are safe and that someone will respond to assist them in the case of an emergency. The Village of Winnetka, IL traditionally has provided fire, EMS, and police protection to its residences since it was established, however, over the years, these Village departments have started to provide service to additional areas immediately outside the village boundaries through a series of public service contracts. To assist with coordinating response efforts in these service agreement areas, the fire and police departments asked the village GIS department for assistance.

Addresses play an important role in the daily activities of Village of Riverside staff whether it is for water billing information, permits, or locating a resident in case of an emergency. In addition, a physical address can serve as a link for answering such questions as what school district do I belong to or what zoning district am I in? However, obtaining this information for a specific address often requires searching through multiple spreadsheets, databases, and paper documents.

Almost every day of the week, police officers are called to the scene of a traffic accident to provide assistance. More often than not, these officers report to a street intersection rather than an address along a residential street. But how many times does a police officer report to the same intersection? Moreover, are there trends occurring for high traffic volume intersections? These were the sorts of questions the Traffic Safety Committee of the City of Park Ridge, IL aimed to study. In addition, the committee wanted to analyze how many accidents per month were happening at each intersection. Furthermore, they needed and easy method for displaying these results to the whole committee.

To help respond to a potential community-wide emergency, most local governments have an emergency response plan in place to assist with the organization and execution of community policies and protocols. As technology has improved over the years, the City of Des Plaines, IL started integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into a tool for assisting with the management of an emergency event response.

In 1916, the United States created the Federal-aid Highway Program with the primary objective being the improvement of rural roads. This changed with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which authorized the first specific funds for urban highways, specifically the creation of a formula for the distribution of federal-aid funds among the primary, secondary, and urban systems. Today, there are three federal-aid systems: The Interstate Highway System, the Federal-aid Primary highway system (FAP), and the Federal-aid Secondary highway system. The Federal-aid Secondary highway system is broken into secondary non-urban (FAS) and secondary urban (FAU). The interstate system consists of routes connecting and running through and around major urban centers. The FAP consists of a system of connected main highways, while the FAS are composed of principal secondary and feeder routes. Both aid systems are chosen by state highway departments and local officials, but are subject to approval by the Bureau of Public Roads. Having roads designated as federal-aid means that the federal and state governments provide funds and take care of repairs instead of the community in which the road is located. This allows the local government to spend money in other areas.

The Village of Wheeling fire department created fire districts for the purpose of sectioning off the village so that village firefighters would have a better idea where an incident was located and what station would be the closest for response. The districts were sectioned off by neighborhood and each one was given a four digit reference code. The fire department then created maps of each district showing the streets that were located within each one. While the maps were effective at first, they eventually became outdated due to changes in the village. The fire department asked the GIS Specialist to create an updated Fire District Map Book that would also include features not available in the previous version.

The Insurance Services Organization (ISO) is an advisory organization that evaluates risk with the objective to help their customers measure, manage, and reduce risk. In a government setting, ISO will gather information that is often used in insurance underwriting. Therefore they will evaluate how well a municipality manages and mitigates risk and those factors directly affect residents and their insurance premiums.