Goodbye Spreadsheets, Hello GIS Dashboards

Public-safety agencies collect vast amounts of data, but the way that data is managed can make or break its usefulness. For instance, many 911 centers still rely on spreadsheets to track performance, manage operations, and justify staffing needs — but spreadsheets aren’t built for the complexity or demands of modern emergency response.

Consequently, it’s time to rethink the approach and leverage geographic information system (GIS) dashboards, which offer a smarter solution.

Spreadsheets long have been used by 911 center officials to capture daily statistics, call logs, and operational insights. These static snapshots offer value in the moment but fall short when it comes to long-term trend analysis or generating and sharing meaningful, actionable insights. Here’s why:

• Memo fields create unstructured data that can’t be analyzed easily.
• Each spreadsheet is different, lacking consistency in language and format.
• There’s no relational capability — data cannot be connected across systems, timespans, or agencies.
• Data-analytics solutions, even those that leverage artificial intelligence (AI), cannot parse and contextualize the data, making it nearly impossible to spot performance trends or issues.
• Once shared, spreadsheets become outdated almost immediately and there are no guardrails to prevent sharing beyond the intended audience.

In contrast, GIS dashboards offer a dynamic, real-time alternative. Unlike spreadsheets, dashboards can integrate data from multiple sources into a centralized platform that updates in real-time.

GIS dashboards work by collecting, integrating, analyzing, and visualizing spatial and non-spatial data. They are especially powerful because they bring together critical information — like call locations, resource deployments, and incident trends — into one interactive interface.

Specifically, GIS dashboards pull data from multiple sources, such as computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems,
automatic vehicle-location (AVL) systems, call-handling equipment (CHE), records-management systems (RMS), traffic-management systems, and external datasets (e.g., weather, traffic, demographics). This is not limited to the 911 center’s data but extends to neighboring 911 centers as well. These data sources are connected via application programming interfaces (APIs), database connections, or manual uploads, and then fed into a centralized GIS platform.

When most people think about GIS, the first word that usually pops into their head is “maps.” Certainly, the core of a GIS dashboard is its visual interface, which includes maps that show current incidents, responder locations, hotspots, and more. But these dashboards go well beyond maps to include the following:

• Charts and graphs that indicate performance metrics, call volume, response time, and more.
• Indicators or “gauges” that flag anomalies or indicate whether thresholds are being met.
• Filters, such as time sliders, that enable review of specific timeframes, jurisdictions, or call types.

GIS dashboards support real-time situational awareness (e.g., during a large-scale emergency, telecommunicators and leadership can monitor live call locations, unit statuses, and resource allocation) and historical performance analysis to track trends, identify inefficiencies, or justify funding and staffing decisions.

With a GIS dashboard, agencies can:

• Visualize hotspots and performance trends.
• Track response times by location, agency, or unit.
• Compare call volume to staffing levels in real time.
• Automate reporting to reduce administrative burden.
• Improve situational awareness during live incidents.
• Control access to the information through logins and account management.
• Select the information and level of detail shared based on account permissions.

But there are a few caveats that 911 center officials should consider when mulling whether to implement a GIS dashboard. One is that the center’s data must be cleaned and standardized before analysis can begin. That means defining consistent values (e.g., start times, call types, response units); removing free-text fields that hinder analytics; and ensuring that timestamps, locations, and identifiers are formatted correctly. This step is crucial for ensuring that the dashboard delivers reliable and actionable insights.

Building an effective dashboard also requires more than technical know-how — it also requires deep understanding of 911 operations. That's where MCP comes in. By combining vast data-integration experience with firsthand public-safety knowledge, especially as it relates to 911 center operations, MCP subject-matter experts can help agencies:

• Identify the right data sources.
• Standardize data definitions across systems.
• Establish meaningful metrics.
• Avoid data bias and misinterpretation.

GIS dashboards aren’t just a tech upgrade. They’re a smarter, more strategic way to manage 911 center operations and with the right team guiding the way, officials can turn their data into decisions that save time, money, and lives. Let’s chat.