Blue Earth County Coordinate-Based Local Addressing System

Project Description

The objective of the project was to create an efficient coordinate-based local addressing system to aid in locating rural emergencies. By establishing a four-digit northerly and four-digit easterly coordinate for each rural location in Blue Earth County, emergency services could identify the exact geographic location. For simplicity and consistency with existing geographic information systems, it was based on the State Plane Coordinate system rounded off to four digits. Calls from rural locations to 911 automatically transmitted the coordinate address. The location and related data was displayed on the emergency dispatcher's screen. This technology was integrated with on-board automatic vehicle location technology (AVL) allowing the dispatcher to coordinate the emergency location and emergency vehicle location.