Civic Addresses and 911 in Other Towns
Laura did a bunch of research about this, and here is what she found:
It turns out that that standard 911 dispatch for towns without civic address is somewhat common in the United States. For example take Carmel by the Sea <http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/>, located to the south of San Francisco.
From their FAQ:
ADDRESSES: A unique characteristic of Carmel-by-the-Sea is that there are no street addresses. Properties are identified, for example, as being on the “west side of San Antonio St., 3 houses south of 12th Ave”. To help identify locations, Carmel cottages often are given names such as “Tinker Bell”, “Doll House”, “This Is It” and its next-door neighbor, “This Isn’t”.
http://www.carmelresidents.org/pdf/CarmelFromAToZ.pdf
The lack of civic addresses is considered part of the unique and special character of the community, like how it is on Lasqueti:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel-by-the-Sea,_California#Planning_and_environmental_factors
Carmel is dispatched out of the Monterey County <http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/911/mc911.htm>, which runs a centralized dispatch serivce similar to NI911. They have no problems with Carmel addresses, so I think it is reasonable to say that the requirement for civic addresses is not intrinsic to the provisioning of 911 services.
In fact, North Island 911's web page even acknowledges this:
Incoming 911 calls are routed through AvelCAD, a computer aided dispatch and mapping system. The AvelCAD mapping software will automatically centre a map over the civic address locating the 911 caller when using a standard home phone within any of the five regional districts. The use of a cell phone however, requires the caller to provide an address, landmark, or other location descriptor ( see our slideshow ) to the dispatcher, who will enter the information manually, enabling the mapping software to then pinpoint the location and indicate the proper fire department to be dispatched.
http://www.ni911.ca/main_dispatch.shtml
Given the low volume of 911 calls that originate from Lasqueti Island, and the growing number of cell phones and VoIP phones, we feel it is a reasonable request that NI911 to handle land line calls from Lasqueti in the same way they handle cell phone calls.
This concession would eliminate the need for civic addresses, which is the most contentious of the issues at hand.
Lasqueti is a small island, with few residents, and the lack of civic addresses is part of our identity and character. It is worth protecting.
Peace,
David & Laura
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