“We are a small resort town, but we want to make sure that we are on the cutting edge of technology. microDATA’s xT911 has enabled us to do that.”
~Chief of Police Jay Hefner
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Beech Mountain 9-1-1:
Meeting the Challenge with NG9-1-1 Call Handling
Since its installation in October 2007, the mountain resort town of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, and the Beech Mountain Police Department have come to rely on microDATA’s Next Generation 9-1-1 call handling system, xT911, for answering and responding to 9-1-1 calls. In order to appreciate what Chief of Police Jay Hefner and his team must support, we only have to consider the environment in which they operate including:
- The highest town in the eastern U.S. at 5,506 feet
- A fluctuating population: 350 full time residents that can increase overnight to more than 10,000 residents during tourist season
- Dramatic changes in demographics: visitors and retirees from major metropolitan areas who expect the same emergency services as in their home city
- An extreme, remote environment that can necessitate mountain rescues via hospital helicopter
- Tech savvy visitors using VoIP, In-vehicle Telematics, and increased wireless phone usage
Such an environment would challenge many larger municipal PSAPs, but for rural Beech Mountain’s two call taker positions, these challenges combine to demand a dynamic, NG9-1-1 call handling solution, like those found in new 9-1-1 Communication Centers throughout the U.S. As Hefner states, “We are a small resort town, but we want to make sure that we are on the cutting edge of technology. microDATA’s xT911 has enabled us to do that.”
Prior to October 2007, Beech Mountain’s 9-1-1 system, like many small rural systems, consisted of an aging 9-1-1 call handling system with an onsite maintained ALI Database and CAD System. The system was functional but had limited capabilities. For example, the 9-1-1 controller was an analog controller and not upgradeable to the VoIP-based systems most 9-1-1 agencies are migrating to today, and which are now a requirement in NENA’s i3 standards. In addition, service proved to be challenging for Hefner and his IT Administrator, David Davis. When he remembers the work required to maintain the system, Hefner states: “It kept David very busy, especially as we were dealing with a small phone company who did not have all the equipment they needed.”
There was no map for locating calls, and some calls routed to Beech Mountain came in without the ALI and ANI spill, or were incorrectly routed to one of the other county agencies. “They [The TELCO] routed all the 387 (the local county exchange) numbers to us. If there was a call outside this exchange (898 or 297), the phone company did not have the capability to route those calls to our PSAP. Instead these callers would get routed to one of the other county agencies, which was incorrect. This could result in a delayed response. Sometimes there was no ANI/ALI when those calls were relayed to us,” cites Davis. As for locating wireless callers, with no map Hefner’s team was frequently dependent on the caller for location. Callers could not always provide adequate location information to the call taker, because of Beech Mountain’s extreme, rural terrain and because many callers in the summer can be elderly.
The xT911 call handling solution implemented in October of 2007 has addressed many of the challenges faced by Hefner’s team, and yielded other benefits not originally anticipated. The phone switch itself is software-based, uses VoIP for processing all calls, and can evolve as Beech Mountain’s needs change. For example, installation of new call taker positions during sudden increased call volume periods (e.g. an event on the mountain or a large scale emergency), can be implemented easily and quickly, unlike their legacy system. In most cases, this involves connecting one of the SIP-based phones to Beech’s LAN and a small system configuration change on the xSwitch, adding the new call taker station, user name and IP address.
Having a map to assist call takers in responding to 9-1-1 calls has further enhanced Beech Mountain’s response. The integrated xTrakker map locates all callers, including the large amount of wireless callers in the area during peak tourist season. It has changed the way Beech Mountain responds to wireless calls, especially those necessitating an air lift rescue.
Hefner explains, “When these calls [wireless] come in from people who are vacationing, they have no idea what the address is or where they are. They’ll say, ‘we do not know where we are.’ Now with xTrakker we can see their location on the map.” Citing the challenge of locating callers requiring an air lift, Hefner recalls an event from the recent past. “I had an incident where another officer and I had to take a GPS into the field (over 60 miles away) to get x/y coordinates. Now the dispatcher can put the cursor on the map and give out the coordinates to the air ambulance helicopter.”
Davis concurs with an example of when he was on duty in the PSAP recently: “Last weekend we had a medical call. I had the air ambulance come in. They asked to have the helicopter on standby (for a possible patient). All I did was go to the map. Almost instantly I could look up the x/y coordinates for where they had to land and get that information back to them in seconds.”
Mobile wireless callers can be particularly challenging, especially in remote areas like Beech Mountain. Hefner really appreciates xT911’s ability to rebid these calls and plot the location on the xTrakker map. “We have had numerous times when we receive a wireless call from a mobile caller on the road. We need to be able to locate these calls on the map, particularly on the back roads. It really helps our call taker when the system can rebid the call automatically and update the location on the map.”
A GIS database using ESRI shape files supports the data behind the xTrakker map. This database was created and is maintained by the Town of Beech Mountain where it resides on the call handling server. Future growth of the GIS data, with the rapid rise in nomadic 9-1-1 callers and proliferation of IP-based calls, may necessitate a GIS Database Management System.
Basic call transfer functions have also been improved with the new system. Hefner and Davis are relieved to find that transfers from other county agencies are now coming through with the requisite information. “Now when the county agency transfers a call, location information can be transferred to us with the call. Pretty much we now have one button where all the information is transferred with the call, as long as the agency forwards the call on the 9-1-1 trunks,” states Davis. This is a far cry from past situations, when certain telephone exchanges required that the county agency set up a conference call through Beech Mountain’s administration line. “On an 898 call, the county PSAP could only do a conference call.” Davis explains. “They would call us on our Admin. line. We had no ALI/ANI. They could not even transfer the phone number.”
Ironically, many of Beech Mountain’s retirees and vacationers who visit Beech Mountain to escape the demands of city life expect to have all the conveniences of urban life. In order to respond to these demands, Davis has begun testing how services such as Vonage (the popular national VoIP provider) and the in-vehicle telematics system, Onstar, will work with the system. “I have worked with Vonage and Onstar to receive these services directly. We are capable of receiving their information on our trunk lines. On the test calls now with Vonage, we get the same information as we get with most wireless calls. With the testing, we did this from the resort location and I got the ANI/ALI for their permanent address. With the Onstar system we can get a location on the map, too. If we receive a call and it is disconnected, it comes directly through our 9-1-1 trunks with the Onstar operator. Prior to this, they [Onstar] took the call directly and then called us and relayed the information. We tested the system recently and it was able to give the x/y coordinates.”
xT911’s IP-based phone switch has meant improvements in support, compared with the legacy telephony system. “Remote support is now the trend with most systems. We are comfortable with this,” states Davis. Hefner and Davis base this on actual experience, when Jeremy Jackson, Network Customer Support Team Lead at microDATA, remotely reconfigured a system setting from the field. The old system necessitated a visit from a field tech to Beech Mountain or, at a minimum, ordering a proprietary hardware part. Remembering the support, Hefner states, “You could pass an act through Congress quicker than get a part from our previous telephony vendor.”
Hefner and his team know that technology will change. Now, with their migration to a software-based 9-1-1 system, they can adapt to meet challenges as they occur. The new system affords Beech Mountain many benefits including:
- Next Generation mapping, which increases situational awareness at the PSAP, in addition to location of landline callers, wireless callers, VoIP and even callers from vehicles equipped with vehicle telematics
- Automatic rebid of wireless calls
- A software-based 9-1-1 call handling system that can adapt to changing technologies
- Superior support that includes remote microDATA support directly to Beech Mountain’s xT911 system, enabling fast response and resolution
- One button selective transfer from neighboring 9-1-1 agencies
More capabilities and functionality with a call taker-friendly interface
The xT911 deployment at Beech Mountain demonstrates that Next Generation 9-1-1 call handling solutions are not only needed in major metropolitan areas. Many of the services the public expects to call 9-1-1 with in the city (wireless, VoIP or in-vehicle telematics) could just as easily be used in rural locations like Beech Mountain. As such, small rural PSAPs require a system that can respond equally well to these calls.
Yet, for Hefner and Davis, having what they need when they need it ensures that the Beech Mountain team can respond no matter what call is coming into their PSAP. As Hefner confirms, “We now have a lot more information and the system to help us”.
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