County updating its maps as well

To give emergency responders accurate directions, the county needs accurate maps.

To have accurate maps, officials need to know locations of new roads, bridges, and railroad crossings as well as speed limits and the entrance for an address.

For example, the building from which most dispatching is done, 2144 Monroe St., doesn't have an entrance off Monroe. It's not hard to find the entrance on North 22nd Street, but if firefighters are rushing to a burning building, they need to know exactly how to get there, said Toledo Fire Capt. Damon Williams, who works in the department's communications bureau.

READ MORE: Dispatch system overhaul set.

As a prerequisite to Lucas County's new dispatching system, emergency services contracted with Digital Data Technologies Inc. to provide all that information and more.

The $728,500 project, which included Digital Data Technologies driving all the county's roads, started in October and was expected to last roughly nine months, though it may run slightly longer because of the harsh winter.

Funding came from a $50,000 grant through the County Engineer's Association of Ohio and a $196,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation. Emergency services is funding the rest through its 911 levy.

Crews mapped bike paths, private roads such as those in mobile home parks, and all of the University of Toledo's campus. The nuances go far beyond what's included in consumer GPS technology, said Greg Bonfiglio, a geographic information system analyst with emergency services.

The last centerline study was done a decade ago. Mr. Bonfiglio said it was time to take a new look at the county's information to "make sure we're not routing fire trucks down bike paths."

Unless they need to. During the summer, emergencies on trails aren't uncommon, and having them mapped makes getting to victims much easier. The mapping information will be shared with offices of the county engineer and county auditor.

Leslie Rhegness, director of technology and geographic information system (GIS) at the Lucas County Auditor's Office, said it was "critical" to have a correct street layer for the county's geographic information systems database.

"This is a more accurate centerline because it's being actually driven on the road," she said. "They're also collecting address points and address ranges, and we use that info extensively to do GIS analysis."

For the engineer's office, the mapping will help officials better analyze crash data and perform more accurate traffic studies, said Brian S. Miller, computer system manager.