Why School Safety is Built Before a Crisis
By Rose Bentley, Chief Operating Officer, GeoComm
Last week, I stood inside an elementary school in Georgia and watched a community put months of preparation into practice. In that moment, our work felt very different than lines on a screen, GIS data, or a completed project. It became real.
The school was Harmony Elementary. Earlier this year, our team mapped the facility as part of our commitment to helping communities prepare for emergencies. Last week, during the annual school safety drill, we had the opportunity to see that work come full circle.
As the exercise began, local fire, sheriff’s office, EMS personnel, school leaders, and emergency teams coordinated their response plans. Behind the scenes, GeoComm’s map served as a critical tool for the dispatch center, providing the location intelligence needed to communicate clearly, understanding the building layout, and support decision-making throughout the exercise. While the map was not the focus of the drill, it played an important role in helping ensure responders had the information they needed to navigate the incident effectively.
Then the simulation started. Mock gunfire echoed through the hallways, and a lockdown message repeated over the intercom: “Lock. Lights out. Out of sight.” Teachers followed established procedures while first responders moved room by room, clearing hallways, securing spaces, and transporting simulated victims to a central triage area. Everyone knew it was a drill, but the emotions were real. There were tears from teachers, tears from first responders, and tears from observers. Even in a controlled exercise, the weight of what these professionals prepare for every day was impossible to ignore.
What struck me most was realizing that our work doesn’t end when we deliver a map. The map becomes part of how a community prepares. It becomes part of how dispatchers coordinate information, how first responders train, and how schools protect students and staff. Watching the exercise unfold reinforced the importance of having accurate location information available before an emergency occurs. Reliable location intelligence quietly supports the decisions, communication, and coordination that make an effective response possible.
Technical Signals
Esri's July 2026 release of ArcGIS Image Dedicated adds private storage connections for AWS and Azure so imagery traffic can move over private cloud networks, along with a refresh operation that updates published image services without a restart. The release also brings support for Dynamic and Tiled Imagery Servers 12.1, Managed RDBMS on PostgreSQL 18, and Pro Machines running ArcGIS Pro 3.7. For teams managing large imagery collections used in basemaps and change detection, the private connectivity option and no downtime refresh reduce two common points of friction in maintaining current imagery.
GeoComm and SkyfireAI announced an integration connecting GeoComm's DFR Routing to SkyfireAI's autonomous drone platform. The product converts emergency incident location information into routing intelligence for drone deployment, built on indoor and outdoor public safety map data that adds building, access route, and campus context to raw coordinates. The companies state that the integration maintains a connected operational picture from the initial 9-1-1 call through drone deployment, aerial assessment, and ground response.
NENA's Accessibility Committee published the NENA/APCO Minimum Training and Operational Standards for TTY/TDD Communications in Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). The standard merges three publications issued between 2015 and 2018 into one document and establishes minimum training and operational expectations for telecommunicators who answer teletypewriter and telecommunications device for people who are deaf or hard of hearing (TTY/TDD) calls. NENA states the consolidation promotes consistent service for callers who rely on these devices while recognizing agency-specific policies, procedures, and equipment.
Esri published guidance for developers selecting a Location Platform as a Service (PaaS). This cloud offering exposes mapping, geocoding, routing, elevation, and spatial analytics through application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) without added infrastructure. It recommends evaluating providers on service breadth, open standards support, community engagement, data handling policies, and pricing transparency.
GIS Policy & Standards Watch
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) published its latest National Address Database compilation. The database aggregates authoritative address data submitted by state, local, and tribal governments into a single national resource, covering point location coordinates, jurisdictions, record-level metadata, sub-unit records, and landmarks. The database is the foundation for transportation safety, NG9-1-1 addressing, and government services, aligned with NENA and Federal Geographic Data Committee standards.
The National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) holds its next public meetings August 12 and 13 in Washington, D.C., with in-person and virtual attendance, and December 9 and 10 online. The committee advises the Federal Geographic Data Committee on national geospatial policy, including the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and implementation of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018. The August agenda covers the 2025 to 2035 NSDI Strategic Plan, artificial intelligence, the USGS 3D Elevation Program, and modernization of the National Spatial Reference System, with public comment scheduled each day.
Insight of the Week
AI can draft GIS workflows quickly, but successful execution does not prove geographic accuracy. Generated code may apply the wrong coordinate system, transformation, units, analysis extent, or join logic while still producing a convincing map or dashboard. GIS teams should review every line, test edge cases, validate inputs and outputs, protect credentials, and run new workflows in a safe environment before using production data. The developer remains responsible for the spatial reasoning behind the result.
Resources & Events
Report Spotlight: Drone as First Responder Programs (CPSE)
The report examines how accredited U.S. fire departments are using Drone as First Responder programs. Of 102 chiefs surveyed, 38% operated or supported a DFR program, while 72% of programs involved partnerships with other agencies. Drones were most often deployed to structure fires, rescues, vehicle crashes and hazardous-material incidents, with footage used to adjust response levels, reposition resources and identify hazards. The findings also show growing use of CAD-driven autonomous flight paths, FAA-licensed operators and data-led dock placement.
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