Banks County, GA is expanding its GIS Map data to include buildings, mile markers, landmarks and fire hydrants. This increased detail will ensure the fastest and most reliable response from emergency services.

Winston-Salem, NC (PRWEB) November 20, 2006 -- Up ahead, you see a car weaving in and out traffic and think to yourself that it's just a matter of time before there's an accident. Almost simultaneously, the weaving car hits another. You pull over to the side of the road to make sure that everyone is okay as you pull out your cell phone to call 9-1-1. Once on the line, you tell the dispatcher that you don't know exactly where you are but you know what mile marker you are next to. Luckily, you're in Banks County, GA, and thanks to InterAct GIS, they can pinpoint your exact location to get response teams on site quickly, when every second counts.


Banks County E911 in Georgia realized the need for an advanced mapping system several years ago. They chose the geographic information system (GIS) from InterAct Public Safety Systems, a leading provider of public safety technology systems used by local, state, national, and international government agencies. Throughout the years, InterAct GIS has proven very successful for them, and Banks County is now taking steps to use the system to the fullest potential.

Deidra Moore, E911 director, recently started an initiative to identify every building, fire hydrant, landmark, and mile marker in Banks County for use in InterAct GIS. In January of 2007, Banks County will start working on Phase 2 wireless capabilities, meaning that when a call to 9-1-1 comes from a cellular phone, the location of the caller will be pinpointed on the GIS map within meters by triangulating their position using two cellular towers or via GPS from a GPS enabled cell phone. Currently, Banks County is Phase 1 compliant, so only one tower is used to plot the caller location which means they can actually be anywhere within a certain radius of the originating tower.

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