QUESTION
What progress has been made on enhancing 311's and 911's location accuracy?
1:18:16
·
4 min
The Office of Technology And Innovation (OTI) is in the scoping phase of developing a unified mapping solution to enhance 311's and 911's location accuracy, with a realization timeline roughly a year away.
- OTI is partnering with Esri and other partners to overcome challenges related to legacy infrastructure and enhance mapping accuracy.
- A citywide unified mapping solution is under development, aiming to consolidate various services and incidents onto a single map.
- OTI acknowledges the significant challenge of transitioning from legacy systems to newer infrastructure.
- Technological enhancements for improved location accuracy, like Rapid SOS, are already in use for emergency services.
- OTI collaborates with the FCC, carriers, and uses GIS tools for better location accuracy while acknowledging device-dependency challenges.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:16
So local law 66 2021 required do it to conduct an assessment of the interactive map accessible through the 311 website or mobile device application that is used for the intake of 311 service requests and complaints in order to determine the feasibility.
1:18:32
Can you update us on per on particularly regarding the assessment of 311 interactive maps location accuracy?
Matthew Fraser
1:18:39
Yeah.
1:18:40
So we're we're currently working very closely without partners at at Esri.
1:18:45
And we're taking a look at not just the 301 interactive maps with New York City, the NYC maps, I mean, a lot of that stuff, again, infrastructure that was put in a long time ago, are we are currently on the hunt for a unified solution across the city.
1:19:03
That would give us 1 mapping layer, a 1 map that would have multiple layers that will provide every sort of every sort of service, every sort of incident, everything that you can see on the city end.
1:19:14
And we're currently in a scoping phase of that, I believe.
1:19:18
We're we're maybe about a year off from seeing something tangible.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:19:22
Okay.
1:19:22
And you're in just in the scoping, but you've already assessed kind of what needs to be upgraded?
Matthew Fraser
1:19:28
Yes.
1:19:28
We have.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:19:29
Okay.
1:19:30
Do you have a sense of how far along you are in fixed the maps or enhancing
Matthew Fraser
1:19:34
the maps?
1:19:35
So we're we're in the scoping phase.
1:19:37
So at this moment, we have we have a direction that we're set in.
1:19:41
We have a set of requirements that we're looking at, but we're looking at the level of effort that it's going to take to do that.
1:19:46
And then prioritizing in concert with the other work that we have going on, where we can fit in the 1.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:19:53
Can you share any technology enhancements that are being considered to improve location accuracy for 311 and 911?
Matthew Fraser
1:19:59
So on the foundation or we're looking at things, like, again, as we're from a mapping perspective.
1:20:04
Mhmm.
1:20:05
911 is a completely separate universe when you get in the next and 911 additional mapping capabilities will be included right now.
1:20:12
And then when we have things like Rapid SOS, that gives us enhanced location accuracy, but that's that's that's in place, and that's been in place for the last, I'd have to say almost the last half a decade.
1:20:25
So for us, looking at the foundation mapping tools, looking at how we can pull in greater accuracy from that.
1:20:30
I think that's that's what we're looking at at the moment.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:20:33
And what are the primary challenges in improving location accuracy, and I know they're separate, 4th, 3rd, and 1 and 911.
Matthew Fraser
1:20:40
I'd say the vast the the most significant challenges, the infrastructure and services that they're dependent that are used to provide that.
1:20:49
A lot of that stuff is in house.
1:20:50
It's housed.
1:20:52
It's in house, and it's on legacy operating systems, legacy versions of stuff, and it requires a significant uplift to replace the infrastructure and replace the underlying technology.
1:21:03
So it's if it was a cloud service, it'd be a lot easier to upgrade because it's it's not.
1:21:10
It's gonna take us some time to to rip them in place.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:21:12
In replacing those, like, legacy products.
1:21:16
Components.
1:21:17
Excuse me.
1:21:17
Is that part of the is that being addressed as part of the scoping process?
Matthew Fraser
1:21:21
That's exactly what's with the borla as part of the program.
1:21:23
Okay.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:21:26
How does OTI collaborate with other city departments or emergency services?
1:21:31
And all communication to enhance location accuracy.
Matthew Fraser
1:21:34
So OTI in the city at large works very very closely with the FCC in terms of looking at location accuracy, looking at how we can use spectrum to the best way as possible.
1:21:46
We constantly work with our carriers to see tools and techniques that are available to give us better sense of of where someone actually is.
1:21:56
I mean, with E911 and other tools like Rapid SOS, where a phone that's not giving you a great location being able to pull down the nearest cell towers what that phone actually is.
1:22:07
I think those capabilities we we have in place today.
1:22:11
And location accuracy, is highly dependent on the device that's actually providing it.
1:22:16
Right?
1:22:17
If you're looking for mapping accuracy and making sure that things are plotted in the right places, Ezary and tools like that take care of ensuring that we have a common mapping layer.
1:22:26
We have a common GIS layer.
1:22:28
Things are provided in the right places, but a large part of what we need to determine where someone is are things that are outside of our control and working with our partners to get that.