‘Where is your emergency?’ Improvements to Arizona 911 System Lauded

PHOENIX (Nov. 12, 2024) — We’ve all been in the situation when you’re making a call and the person on the other line says hold on, let me transfer you. It’s annoying if you’re calling customer service; it’s potentially life-changing if you’re calling 911.

Years of work from the Arizona Department of Administration’s 911 team has focused on making sure that emergency services can be more accessible and accurate for people calling for help from all corners of Arizona. Thanks to the 911 team’s work, emergency responders in Arizona can now zero in on your longitude and latitude data within 3 feet when you call 911 from a cell phone, and calls from landlines are now being traced to updated coordinates instead of using outdated billing addresses from phone company records.

“The work we’re doing really affects Arizonans because when you call 911, and it's an emergency, and it's probably one of the worst days of your life, you're going to get to the right person the first time,” said Geographic Information Systems Program Manager Brooke Serpa. 

Serpa and the 911 Program team at ADOA earned a rare award this year for outstanding use of the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s (Esri) mapping software to build up the quality of geographical data that makes 911 services more accurate and useful in modern-day emergencies. Earning distinction among the 90,000 businesses, nonprofits, governments and agencies using the GIS tool worldwide, Arizona’s 911 team was among the 235 Special Achievement in GIS awardees in 2024. 

The award recognizes just one facet of the yearslong focus, collaboration and persistence the 911 program team has brought to the complex project of upgrading Arizona’s emergency response systems statewide. Leveling up the geographic data collected and available across the state is foundational to improving 911 service in Arizona. Without that information (and without it being up to date and in a standard format), emergency responders won’t know where to find you when you call. Something as simple as having an address spelled out completely, incorporating house numbers from new builds or making sure the directionals are standardized can make all the difference. 

The state’s 911 team took on the task of not only assessing the data available but also working with public safety and GIS professionals both in Arizona and nationwide to establish best practices for standardizing the data. The ADOA 911 team then worked with counties, cities and towns all over the state to help update data, identify the many existing gaps in data or technology, and provide professional development and training to help underserved communities get their data ready for Next Generation 911 (NG911). 

This is the work that got the attention of Esri. The organization’s Special Achievement in GIS awardees are nominated by Esri representatives who see innovative work being done using the software. Esri Director of Emergency Communications Solutions Brooks Shannon nominated the ADOA 911 team after seeing its support for underserved communities; the team customizes Esri tools to help make it more accessible for rural communities to update, validate, standardize, coordinate and aggregate the data that is the foundation of how emergency services can locate callers. 

“The primary reason that I nominated Arizona and continue to be so impressed is the work that has been done that ensures it’s not just the most resourced communities who will get to enjoy NG911. The intention of NG911 is that people have access anytime, anywhere, using any means necessary to contact emergency services. And Arizona has done a commendable job of making that happen,” he said. 

Shannon said the Arizona team is helping level the playing field with training, content and outreach so that people around the state have equitable access to GIS tools and can sustain the upkeep of the data. 

“A lot of states do good outreach, but Arizona is next level,” he said. 

Though it’s been a complex and long process to get to this point, Serpa says the team keeps focused on the impact this work has on everyday people in our state.

“That's the value to every day Arizonans, is that when you call 911, that dispatcher will be able to help you quickly. It’s saving lives, this work. We truly believe that. Arizona is improving the way that you access public safety and service when you dial 911.”

GIS is just one facet of the multifaceted work that the 911 team is doing to improve emergency services in Arizona. Learn more about the ability to text 911, media share and more below. 

Background: The immense groundwork of upgrading 911 service

Over the past 10 years, ADOA has been updating the 1960s-era, landline-based system to something that can serve people better.

Updating these tools means that in Arizona

• Emergency responders can zero in on your longitude and latitude within 3 feet when you call 911 from a cell phone.
• Calls from landlines will be traced to updated coordinates instead of outdated billing addresses.
• 911 call centers (also called Public Service Answering Points or PSAPs) receive automatic system updates in a cloud environment instead of lengthy manual fixes.
• In most places in the state, people can text 911 if they’re in a situation where they can’t speak, don’t have good service or don’t have much power.
• From most places in the state, people can send pictures, video and audio files to 911 via text or another service, helping 911 operators triage emergency services and get first responders prepared for what they will be walking into. The media is also available for any subsequent police reports or judicial proceedings. 

The work to shift to Next Generation 911 ramped up in the last three years. A critical area of focus has been leveling up the geographic data collected and available across the state. Good data is one key ingredient to delivering Next Generation 911, but so is infrastructure to gather the data, says ADOA’s former GIS Program Manager Eric Shreve, who now works for the city of Goodyear. In its previous iteration, 911 services triangulated your call based on cell towers and the address a phone company had on file, which led to jurisdictional confusion and delays. 

“When we think of 911, especially the public, they would always ask when they were talking to a dispatcher or talking to 911, how come Uber, Lyft, Dominos, all these applications can find me better than 911? When I call 911 I have to give my location, and the accuracy and uncertainty is always an issue,” said Shreve.

NG911 represents a complete paradigm shift in 911 services that can answer the question. Now that most emergency calls aren’t coming in from landlines, the infrastructure needed for modern-day emergency services is different. It’s more about data centers, updated calling equipment and broadband than it is about copper wiring and cell towers. 

“What Next Gen 911 is doing is looking to improve the accuracy down to 3 feet. How we do that is with geospatial information: Addresses points and roads,” said Shreve.

Now, cell phones give geographical information, and landlines’ addressing information is cross-referenced with all the updated data that has been verified and is now regularly updated. Additionally, all of the call centers are in the process of being upgraded to systems that can utilize this technology to its potential. That’s why the state’s 911 team has been updating the equipment at all of the Arizona Public Safety Answering Points. Currently, 73 have been done, and seven are in process, all in Maricopa County. 

With the exception of the Navajo Nation—where tribal sovereignty must be considered for any infrastructure and systems changes—and physical equipment in the call centers, Next Generation 911 is complete in Arizona. 

What’s the impact of Next Generation 911 to people in Arizona? 

Shreve cited several scenarios where Next Gen 911 service can be a game changer in emergencies.

Consider a hiker who is out in a remote area and injured his leg. Cell service is limited. He can’t call 911 because of service but has limited texting ability. He texts 911, and that location is routed through the 911 center so he can be located and helped. 

Think of someone who is in a situation where they can’t talk out loud safely or don’t want to draw attention to the fact that they’re calling 911. In a kidnapping or chase situation, the ability to text 911 for help can be pivotal. 

Serpa said multimedia information is also a perk of the updated systems, being able to show dispatchers what is going on so that first responders know what they are pulling up to. Dispatchers are able to send a link to phones to accept sharing video, which Serpa explains can be lifesaving in the moment.

“With multimedia sharing, I can have an incident going on and I can send a video to a dispatcher and show them, I'm at this accident. Here's what's going on. Or my kid is choking. Can you walk me through the process of how to do the Heimlich or how to administer CPR? There are some really lifesaving abilities with the multimedia sharing,” said Serpa. (Note: Not every PSAP in the state has the personnel and certification to provide things like CPR support over the phone). 

What’s the impact for first responders in Arizona? 

There are also many benefits to first responders to the updates that have come from Next Generation 911. Dispatch and telecommunications tend to be understaffed. Having information to correctly route the calls is critical, said Shreve, as is leveraging artificial intelligence to handle some non-emergency tasks, like triaging and capturing accident reports. 

Updated call handling equipment and cloud-based operations offer more flexibility than the antiquated technology that has been in place for more than 60 years; cloud-based systems now offer flexibility to implement updates. Another improvement is utilizing what’s called Voice Over Internet Protocol, which provides an exact location (floor, office or room number) when someone calls 911 from a large state building. 

The 911 team at ADOA has collaborated in this process with not only local governments and GIS professionals but also with law enforcement and fire departments across the state to understand the needs of first responders. The Arizona Department of Public Safety’s system has been updated for nearly a year, and they’ve seen remarkable improvements so far. 

"Since implementing the Next Generation 911 system in November [2023], our DPS 911 dispatch centers have experienced a dramatic improvement in our ability to respond to emergencies. The integration of text, data and video has provided our responders with critical, real-time information that wasn't possible before,” said Bureau Manager of DPS Operational Communications Keira Neilson. 

“We now have access to accurate caller location data through improved GIS, ensuring faster and more precise routing of emergency services to the citizens of Arizona. These enhancements have transformed how we handle calls, allowing us to provide quicker, more effective responses—especially in underserved rural areas across the state. NG911 has truly elevated our emergency response capabilities to meet the demands of modern technology." 

Serpa said the team’s goal is to convert all the remaining PSAPs by February. Several are being migrated every month until then.