For nearly a decade, the City of Marietta Fire Department in Georgia made do with a mapping application that was difficult to use and often displayed outdated information. Meanwhile, the city’s GIS division had up-to-date data but no good way to make it available in real time to emergency responders.

Now the department operates with a state-of-the-art mobile mapping application that can route and re-route fire trucks on-the-fly. The application operator can even steer firefighters to entry points, hallways, and stairs in a mapped building that may be hidden behind thick smoke but are clearly visible on the computer screen.

Recently the city’s IT department and fire department, working as partners, reviewed options for making better use of the city’s existing data and infrastructure and upgrading its fire mobility application. The city contracted with Geographic Information Services, Inc. (GISi), an Esri business partner, to design and implement a new server-based application.

Read more…