FLORIDA FIRE STATIONS 2005

This dataset is a combination of fire station and EMS facility addresses 
from (1) the National Fire Department Census (source - US Fire Administration), 
(2) The Department of Health, (3) the Yellow Pages online, (4) and Super Pages 
online. Since only censused fire stations are included in the National Fire Census 
database, addresses were also obtained from the Yellow and Super Pages to 
insure a complete spatial representation of fire station locations.

About the National Fire Department Census:

(from USFA website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/fdonline/about.cfm)

USFA has completed the first phase of the National Fire Department Census. During
October 2001 through the spring of 2002 over 36,000 census forms were mailed to
fire departments across the United States. Approximately 16,000 fire departments
initially registered with the census which is about half of the fire departments
estimated to be in the United States.

The online census database provides a current directory of the fire departments
registered with the census as well as some basic information about each one. The
USFA is working to encourage more fire departments to participate in the census.
In September 2002, additional census forms were mailed to fire departments that
have not already responded to the census.

The purpose of the census is to create a national database for use by USFA, our
colleagues in the fire protection and prevention communities, allied professions
and the general public. USFA will use the database to conduct special studies to
guide program decision-making and to improve direct communication with individual
fire departments.

In addition to collecting the names and addresses of fire departments across the
country, the survey queried fire departments about their capabilities, population
and area protected, number of personnel, and specialized services. In the future,
the USFA plans to release summaries of this information but in order to increase
the validity of the consolidated data more fire department participation is needed.

What is Geocoding?
Geocoding is term used to describe the act of address matching.  Geocoding
is the process of finding a geographic location (x, y point) for an address
(such as street number and name, city, state, and ZIP Code) on a map.
Geocoding is based off the typical address scheme for the US, in which one
side of the street contains even house numbers while the other side of the
street contains odd house numbers.

The geocoding process uses an algorithm to find the geographic location
of addresses. First, a street segment is identified using the zip code and
street name. Next, the geographic location of the address is matched using
the building number to determine how far down the street and on which side
of the street the building is located.

Geocoding Accuracy
The locational accuracy of geocoded addresses may vary from urban to rural
areas due to the algorithm used to generate the geographic locations of
addresses. The algorithm assumes that the size of parcels are equivalent
along a road route. This assumption tends to be more consistent in urban
areas, where the size of parcels vary less than in rural areas.
Consequently, the results of geocoded addresses in urban areas are usually
more reliable than those in rural areas.

For example, the locational accuracy of rural addresses can be slightly
off because some parcels along a rural route may be 15 acres while others
may be 2.5 acres, but the geocoding algorithm assumes that the addresses
are distributed evenly along the route.

This data is provided 'as is' and its horizontal positional accuracy has not been verified by GeoPlan

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy has not been verified by GeoPlan

Spatial and Attribute Information

The National Fire Department Census data was originally 
released by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) in 2005. 
GeoPlan downloaded this data in text file format and converted 
it to a dbf.  Additional fire station locations were obtained
from the online Yellow Pages in 2005. Addresses were 
manually selected and entered into a dbf. Both dbf's were 
checked for duplicate addresses and then combined into
one dbf.  The combined dbf was then geocoded against 
ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads and converted into a 
shapefile with the FGDL Albers HPGN map projection.

Process Steps for US Fire Administration Data: -Downloaded 
National Fire Department Census data (registered fire station 
locations) in text file format from the US Fire Administration website: 
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/fdonline/states.cfm 
-Converted the station locations text file to database file format

Process Steps for Super Pages FL Cemetery Locations:

-Searched for fire station addresses at http://www.superpages.com
 Selected fires station addresses under following categories:

 Health & Medicine

    * Public Health & Safety
          o Emergency Services
                + Fire Departments (1420)

-Downloaded fire station information

Process Steps for Yellow Pages Fire Station Locations: 
-Searched for fire station addresses in www.yellowpages.com 
-Selected fire station addresses under following categories: 

Justice, Public Order & Safety
Fire Protection
- Fire Department (1338)
- Fire Department Volunteer (33)
- Fire Protection County Government (250)
- Fire Protection Local Government (310)
- Fire Protection, State Government (41)

-All addresses from sections above were copied and 
pasted into a text file, which was then formatted so that 
it could be imported into Excel and converted to a database 
file format.

Process Steps for Both USFA and Yellow Pages data: 
-Both database files of station locations were weeded to 
 remove duplicate addresses. 
-Both database files were combined 
-The addresses were geocoded against ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads 
-Shapefile created using FGDL Albers HPGN map projection 

Process Steps for Department of Health (DOH) EMS Facility Locations:
Inserted Hardcopy data received from DOH into .DBF

Process Steps for USFA, DOH, and Yellow Pages data: 
-All three database files of fire stations and EMS Facility locations were weeded to 
 remove duplicate addresses. 
-All three database files were combined 
-The addresses were geocoded against ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads 
-Shapefile created using FGDL Albers HPGN map projection 

-This update consists of changes made to Volusia County, Florida in 2005.  
The old geocoded data was removed from the statewide layer and the newly 
acquired data was appended.  The AUTOID was calculated for records containing 
no old AUTOID number.

(A2) For Volusia County, FL the 2005 GC_FIRESTAT statewide 
geocoded point data was removed. This data was replaced with 
more accurate point data received directly from Volusia County 
and/or a company working with Volusia County in May of 2005.

(A5) Some Information from the 2004 geocoded data set was 
retained; this data was retained for three reasons: 

 1. The Yellow Pages and Super Pages Online are paid 
advertising sites, some facilities may wish to discontinue 
their advertising with those companies but they may still 
exist at that address/location (i.e. Churches etc). 
 2. The address might have changed slightly (i.e. suite 
number, building number, or zip code) which may have 
affected the addresses ability to be geocoded with the 
2005 GDT roads dataset. 
 3. The facility no longer exists. 

Because facilities in reasons one and two may still exist 
in the real world all the 2004 geocoded features that were 
not reproduced in the 2005 geocode update were re-geocoded 
against the 2005 GDT roads dataset.  These facilities were 
then added to the 2005 geocoded dataset. Facilities that 
are part of this scenario are represented with a value of 'NIN' 
(Not In New) in the field called FLAG.

-Added DESCRIPT field based on NAME
-Socio-Cultural Effect data fields and definitions were added. 
 FLAG, UPDATE_DAY, AUTOID, NAME, ADDRESS, CITY,
 ZIPCODE, OPERATING, OP_CLASS, SERVICES, COMMON_USE
 USE, YR_BUILT, FGDLAQDATE.
-For facilities that previously existed the permanent auto 
 identification number [auto id] was carried over from the
 2004 SCE base data to the 2005 SCE updates. For new 
 facilities autoids were created.
-Total records = 1009

Internal feature number.

ESRI

Feature geometry.

ESRI

ESRI item which denotes the status of the geocoded address whether it was matched or not).

ESRI item which denotes the score with which the address was matched to a feature in the reference data.

ESRI item which denotes the side of the street to which the address was matched (for geocoding service styles that can match an address to a particular side of a street).

Designation of fire department

A description of a facility's physical location providing direction for delivery and provision of emergency services

City of facility's physical location

US postal delivery designation of facility's physical location

The phone number of the fire station

The responsible organization for management and operation of a facility (e.g., public, private, quasi-public)

Classification of the operating entity

Services rendered not typical to the entity

Location of two or more uses in one facility or on common grounds so as to share common facilities

Description of co-located use, if applicable

The year a structure was built for determining possible historical significance

FGDL added item based on Name

Type of update that occurred

The last day the file was updated

Internal ID #

The date FGDL aquired the data from the source.