Next Generation 911 Address Change Lookup

Upcoming Re-Addressing

To prepare for the upcoming change to Next Generation 9-1-1 the city has found it necessary to re-address 7600+ locations/addresses and create over 150 new street segment names throughout the city.  Not only will this prepare Bristol for next generation 9-1-1 service but also allow first responders to locate addresses more efficiently and clear up some challenging legacy addressing.

When will this take place?

It's already begun. Many citizens have already received their notifications. The official change to the new addresses for city operations is April 30th, 2021. The post office and parcel delivery companies may adjust to the new addressing prior.

Are you affected?

You can find out at the your city GIS website located at this address https://bristolva.interactivegis.com/login/

Once you read the terms and conditions, select the "I have read and agree to the terms below" checkbox and choose the "Go to map" button.

Next select "Map View"

On the vertical tool bar to the right side of the page, select “Map Layers”

Expand the Addressing tab on the right.

Make sure both Addresses boxes (Old and New) are checked as well as the "Road Labels (New)" box is checked.

Next select the Search tool.

You can search by address (enter the address like it would appear on a road sign - periods are not necessary for abbreviations such as RD or ST and BLVD), parcel number, or owner name (last name first).

Once your search has returned you should see the old address in red and new address in yellow.

Tell me more about Next Generation 9-1-1

Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) refers to an initiative aimed at updating the 9-1-1 service infrastructure in the United States and Canada to improve public emergency communications services in a glowingly wireless mobile society. NG9-1-1 is a(n): nationwide, standards-based, and secure emergency communications infrastructure.

Current 911 systems were originally built using analog technology and focused on static land-line locations. NG9-1-1 is facilitating digital technologies and societal changes, by enabling mobile phone locations, capabilities of text and other multimedia communications between a 9-1-1 caller and a 911 center, and on to responders in the field.

Legacy (current) 911 systems make use of tabular databases called the Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) to validate and assign calls. An MSAG is a compressed listing of every street name, house number range, community, and Emergency Service Number (ESN) in an E9-1-1 system. The MSAG defines all possible valid address locations within the 9-1-1 service area. MSAG has two primary functions:

          1. To validate the address on a subscriber’s record. 

          2. To assign an ESN to a subscriber’s record.

Next Generation 911 fully embraces GIS technology, bringing it into the center of the 911 system. In any 911 call, there are two GIS-based core services at play: the emergency call routing function, which dictates where to send the call for service, and the location validation function, which determines whether an address is valid for routing and dispatch. For these NG911 core services to function properly, an authoritative, GIS-based collection of features—such as street centerlines, address points, call center jurisdiction boundaries, and the operating areas for emergency service providers (e.g., police, fire, and paramedics)—must exist. And these features have to be meticulously maintained so they remain accurate and up-to-date.

What is wrong with the old 9-1-1?