November 2nd, 2007
GIS at work – Reverse 911
When I started my present job with the Val Verde Unified School District my position consisted mainly of working with GIS. Most people said, "What’s that?". Hehe, I’m not surprised. I’ve been in technology for years and barely knew what it really meant.
Well, here’s a great example of GIS in real world use. GIS is literally the use of maps with computers (Geographic Information System). Have you ever used a web site to find directions from your house to somewhere? You’ve used GIS.
Anyway, I’m sure many of you heard about the Reverse 911 system San Diego used during the fires.
That’s a pretty amazing use of GIS. It’s all done by calling houses that are located within a specific area, so emergency officials can call hundreds of thousands of people located in a very precise geographic area. It’s pretty amazing.
Unfortunately I heard a Riverside politician make a terrible comment regarding the system. When criticized that cell phones weren’t called this politician stated that the reverse 911 system wasn’t capable of that and they will be searching for a vendor who can supply this need. This is dead wrong because the system San Diego uses can contact almost any type of device, including text messaging cell phones and pagers as well as interacting with hearing impaired equip. They can even leave voicemail in a variety of languages incase the residents are not native English speakers. In fact, during the fires San Diego County had a link on their web site allowing people to type in their home address and attach any phone number they wanted. I’m sure this was always available but it was just more publicized at that time.
Anyway, I thought that was one of the coolest applications of GIS I’ve heard.
If you’re interested check out the web site. http://www.reverse911.com
I should have bought stock before the fires. 
~Matt
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