FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2004

TITLE: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Geodataset Name:       GC_LAWENFORCE
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    POINT
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This dataset contains 2003 Law Enforcement Information for the State of Florida. It is a combination of Law Enforcement addresses from (1) the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and (2) the Yellow Pages online. The data contains selected fields denoting the physical address, number, regions, and contact information for Law Enforecement Facilities and Agencies located in Florida.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    Florida Department of Law Enforcement / Yellow Pages
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     N/A
DATE OF AUTOMATION OF SOURCE:      2003
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: GC_LAWENFORCE.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE N. DECIMAL DEGREES
FID
4 OID ---
Shape
0 Geometry ---
Status
1 String ---
Score
4 Number ---
Side
1 String ---
ID
15 String ---
NAME
100 String ---
ADDRESS
65 String ---
CITY
40 String ---
ZIPCODE
9 Number ---
TYPE
40 String ---
SUBTYPE
25 String ---
OPERATING
50 String ---
OP_CLASS
40 String ---
COMMON_USE
4 String ---
USE
50 String ---
YR_BUILT
4 Number ---
DESCRIPT
33 String ---
FLAG
5 String ---
UPDATE_DAY
8 Date ---
AUTOID
6 Number ---

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
FID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

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

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

Side 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).

ID Internal ID #

NAME Law enforcement agency designation

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

CITY City of facility's physical location

ZIPCODE US postal delivery designation of facility's physical location

TYPE The type of Law Enforcement faciltiy.

SUBTYPE Category of agency

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

OP_CLASS Classification of the operating entity

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

USE Description of co-located use, if applicable

YR_BUILT The year a structure was built for determining possible historical significance

DESCRIPT FGDL added item based on TYPE

FLAG Type of update that occurred
A = Attribute edit

S = Spatial edit

B = Both attribute and spatial edit

N = New

D = Delete


UPDATE_DAY The last day the file was updated

AUTOID Internal ID #

USER NOTES:
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within the original data.

This dataset is a combination of law enforcement addresses from (1) the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and (2) the Yellow Pages online. Since more sherif facilities exist than were included in the FDLE website, addresses were also obtained from the Yellow Pages to insure a complete spatial representation of law enforcement facility locations.

The following dataset was Geocoded against ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads. Address information was obtained via a website or through a spreadsheet gained from an agency. The data was reformatted using a text editor in order to create data that could be imported into excel. From this data, dbfs were created that could then be used for Geocoding/Address Matching.

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.

A note concerning data scale:

Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale 
datasetsare not suitable for some project, analysis, or
modelling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best
available data.

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the county level.

1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base 
mapping such as property parcel boundaries.

1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the multi-county or regional level.

1:250000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should 
be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with 
your data before using it for projects or analyses. Every 
effort has been made to supply the user with data 
documentation. For additional information, see the 
References sectionand the Data Source Contact section of 
this documentation. For more information regarding scale 
and accuracy, see our web pages at:

http://www.geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html
REFERENCES:
Yellow Pages Online:
www.yellowpages.com

FDLE:
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/
DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:

Law Enforcement addresses were obtained through the FDLE website or
the Yellow Pages Online.  These addresses were copied into a textfile,
which was converted to a database file. The database file was geocoded
against ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads, and converted into a shapefile
with the FGDL Albers HPGN map projection.

-Obtained Law Enforcement addresses through FDLE website
 www.fdle.state.fl.us and Yellow Pages Online.
-Copied law enforcement addresses into textfile
-Converted text file to database file format
-Geocoded against ARC Logistics Route GDT Roads
 Shapefile created using FGDL Albers HPGN map projection (See "Map
 Projection Parameters" below).

Process Steps for FDLE Law Enforcement Data:

-Downloaded Law Enforcment facility data in textfile format from
 the FDLE website:
 http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/cjst/Professionalism/AgencyAddresses
-Converted the facility locations text file to database file format

Process Steps for Yellow Pages Law Enforcement Data:

-Searched for law enforcment addresses in www.yellowpages.com
-Selected law enforcement addresses under following categories:
 Sheriffs Office (326)
-All addresses from sections above were copied and pasted into a
 textfile, 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 law enforcement facilities were compared 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
-Added DESCRIPT field based on NAME
Process Date: 2003

Socio-Cultural Effect data fields and definitions were added. FLAG, UPDATE_DAY, AUTOID, NAME, ADDRESS, CITY, ZIPCODE, OPERATING, OP_CLASS, SUBTYPE, COMMON_USE, USE, YR_BUILT. Process Date: 20041021
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:			Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Abbr. Name:		FDLE
Web site:		http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/

Name:                   Yellow Pages Online
Web site:               www.YellowPages.com
FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html