2300 N Jog Road,
4th Floor, West Palm Beach, FL Phone: 561-681-3958 
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A correct and complete address database is crucial for the citizens of Palm Beach County because much of the work performed in local government relates back to a location. A location address (or site) is the primary means to get there. Property owner mailing addresses have been fairly well-established by agencies such as the Property Appraiser Office and the Water Utilities Department, but this doesn't always define the site location. Though recognition of the lack of dependable site data is becoming widespread with technological advances, in PBC the problem is magnified with its growth and seasonal residences. The site address database needs to be as accurate and dependable as the mailing address, and PBC is leading the way to achieve that. Critical services such as E-911, Police and Fire Rescue require reliable address information in order to respond quickly in case of an emergency. Besides public safety, many County business processes relate to the site address. In order to direct traffic you need to know where you are and where you want to go to; and site address helps to define the beginning and ending location. An obvious economic benefit results when the Census Bureau uses addresses to distribute federal funds to the local jurisdictions. The site addresses are assigned by designated positions - within Planning, Zoning and Building at the County, and at each of the cities. The street name is usually initiated and submitted by the developer for approval by the County. The address number is generally assigned by the County or a City when a piece of property is platted. Advancements in technology, including the move from paper documentation to electronic database storage, have led to recognition of inconsistency and inaccuracy in the data. The multi-agency Countywide GIS organization has taken on the task of creating an accurate and centrally available Enterprise Addressing System because 1) good addresses are needed by every department, and 2) GIS (Geographic Information Systems) require addresses to find the geographic location required for maps and analysis. GIS, ties the address number and street names to a place on the ground which gives us the "where" information. This can then be joined to other data to describe the "what". For example, you might question where a Park resides on a particular road. With a site address you are given the "Where" and the Park definition is the "What" - a common scenario where GIS is used to answer questions. Project Manager, Jurate Barkauskaite-Meister from the ISS/GIS Service Bureau has been working with a team of contractors and staff from several County agencies to identify all addresses on record in Palm Beach County, and then tying those addresses to a location on the ground. Staff from Planning, Zoning and Building, Fire-Rescue, Environmental Resources Management, Public Safety, Engineering, ISS and the Property Appraiser Office have worked diligently on the initiative. Using continually enhanced automated processes as much as possible, the team is digitally going house-to-house to confirm information found on plats, in databases and addresses provided by cities. Confirmed by field verification processes, this gives us an accurate, centralized, electronic data set of where addresses reside across the entire County. A significant Phase I Milestone was reached in April after successfully completing the high-level clean-up effort for commercial and residential properties. The team began with 450,000 addresses, found over 200,000 missing addresses and corrected over 50,000 records, resulting in a more complete and accurate data set of over 600,000 address records. Many addresses needed further clarification or investigation which will be corrected during the next phase. Some of the problems identified and corrected included misspelled or alias street names, transposed numbers and missing information. The team expended considerable effort to complete the first phase. The next phase will concentrate on condominiums, mobile home parks, and multi-address buildings (i.e., shopping centers), as well as continuing to reconcile discrepancies as they arise. Automation advancements allow us to continually improve accuracy of information, subsequently leading to greater efficiency. As many can attest, this is tedious, yet essential work that will help many organizations. New dispatch systems at Fire Rescue and the Sheriff's Office are GIS-based and require highly accurate address information to respond quickly, and to the right location. This addressing project has already resulted in response time improvements. Every database developed in every agency that includes addresses for internal business functions will be using the centralized database to correct errors they might find in their data. Corrected address site data has been provided to the Census Bureau for the upcoming 2010 Census, and this will result in an increase in the distribution amount to Palm Beach County. |
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