Huron County to Launch Quinte West's Award Winning PRISM Program
Mayor John Williams and members of Council are very pleased to announce that Huron County will soon be launching the City of Quinte West’s award winning PRISM Program. The PRISM Program consists of the City’s customized GIS and Community Notification System applications, PRISM-GIS and PRISM-911, respectively.
The City’s Protective Response Interactive Systems Management (PRISM) program has been in development by City Staff since October, 2006. PRISM utilizes GIS software from ESRI Canada and Latitude Geographics of Victoria, BC, telephony messaging software from VoiceGate Corporation of Richmond Hill and audio/visual communication software from Microsoft. The PRISM Program was further advanced by a $57,000 grant under the Federal GeoConnections program. The
PRISM application provides emergency response administrators and field staff with a web based GIS tool that allows for open communication and collaboration between a command centre and staff in the field. PRISM-911 is the first known Canadian made emergency response GIS generated telephone notification application in the Country. PRISM-911 can begin an emergency call out campaign as quickly as 15 – 20 minutes from the time the City is made aware of an emergency within its boundaries.
“The City of Quinte West PRISM Program has been an invaluable resource to our Emergency Management personnel” stated Mayor Williams. “We are very pleased that other municipalities and counties in the Province, such as Huron County, can utilize such a unique municipal service that was developed here in Quinte West.”
Mayor Williams and Council would like to thank the City of Quinte West GIS / IT team that have worked together to develop the PRISM Program. Manager of Planning, IT & GIS Services Edward S. Woods stated “Our PRISM team looks forward to working with Huron County in establishing a PRISM Program there.”
About Huron County:
Huron County is located along the shores of Lake Huron and bills itself as “Ontario’s West Coast” with 100 km of coastline. Covering approximately 3,400 square kilometers, Huron County is the most agriculturally productive county and rural community in Ontario with 55% of its 59,701 residents living in non-urban areas.
About the City of Quinte West:
Located approximately 1.5 hours east of Toronto along the Highway 401 corridor, the City of Quinte West is situated on the shores of the beautiful Bay of Quinte, serving as the gateway to the world famous Trent Severn Waterway. Over 42,000 people make Quinte West their home enjoying the urban and rural landscapes that encompass the area. The City of Quinte West has a strong and diverse economic base and is home to 8 Wing Trenton, Canada’s largest military base. Quinte West offers a unique and dynamic mix of lifestyle
and business amenities that make it a great place to live and a great place to do business.
For more information, please contact:
Edward S. Woods, B.E.S.
Manager IT / GIS Services
City of Quinte West
(613) 392-2841 edw@city.quintewest.on.ca
“The City of Quinte West’s PRISM-GIS and PRISM-911 are fantastic, leading edge technologies and the Municipal Health & Safety Association applauds these initiatives, as they will reduce risk to front line responders specifically as well as the public at large.”
W. A. (Bill)
Blackborow
President and
CEO
Municipal Health and Safety
Association
The use of Microsoft Office Live Meeting to facilitate and record planned meetings as part of PRISM-GIS demonstrates great innovation on the part of City of Quinte West GIS/IT staff. Microsoft Canada applauds the City of Quinte West’s initiative to use leading edge technology to ensure the continued safety and security of its citizens, and is pleased to welcome the success of the system as it is deployed in field conditions.
Congratulations to the IT development team, the Fire Department and the City of Quinte West!
Craig Sisson
Director, Ontario Public Sector
Microsoft Canada
City Launches PRISM-911 Emergency Notification Application
During the past year, City of Quinte West GIS / IT staff have developed an innovative GIS application for Emergency staff personnel (Fire and Police) called PRISM-GIS. PRISM stands for Protective Response Interactive Services Management. Please click here for a detailed description on PRISM-GIS.
One of the exciting features on PRISM is PRISM-911 which is an Interactive Municipal Telephone Notification system that can notify the Public during an emergency situation. This is the first known Canadian made emergency response GIS generated telephone notification application. This application can be used to warn the public of a chemical spill, fire or notify the public of a boil water advisory or construction project. It can also be used by the police to notify
the public of a missing child. Where time is critical and minutes can feel like hours, PRISM-911 can be the difference in assisting our emergency personnel.
The City, however, desperately needs your assistance. We are currently compiling the telephone notification database. The City of Quinte West currently has approximately 15,900 properties of which approximately 14,300 are development. Quinte West staff are utilizing Canada-411 to input the phone numbers of all residents and businesses in Quinte West. PRISM-911 is only as good as the telephone database that it uses to contact
the Public. We need every residential, commercial, industrial and institutional phone number in Quinte West. We also require cell phone numbers if you do not have a LAN (Land Area Network) phone line and any unlisted phone numbers. This information will only be used for municipal notification purposes and will not be shared with third parties.
Please see our innovative PRISM-911 PDF maps to see if the City currently has your telephone information. The PRISM-911 mapping is divided into the City's four wards and will be updated daily by City staff. Please click on your ward and look up your property to see if the City has your telephone number. Any information forwarded to the City (ie. new telephone number s for a property) should be shown on the map within 48 hours of submission (excluding weekends). The map is
highlighted in three colours, Green, Red and Yellow.
If your property is highlighted in Green, that means we currently have your phone number in our database.
If the property is highlighted in Red that means we do not have a phone number for the property and we need you to contact the City immediately. You can call the City at 613-392-2841, ask for extension 4545 and provide your contact information in the voice mailbox for PRISM-911. You can also send an email to
If the property is highlighted in Yellow that means it is vacant, undeveloped, farm land or municipally owned. Should you see an error in our PRISM-911 map or have a question regarding it, please contact the City at the number listed below. To assist our residents, we have included road names and 911 address numbers on all developed properties in the City.
The PRISM-911 map also indicates all known multi-residential properties in the City of Quinte West. These properties are illustrated with a symbol. If your property is developed with more than one residential unit (ie: basement apartment, duplex, triplex, etc.), it is your responsibility under the Fire Code to inform the municipality. Failure to notify the City of multi-residential use may result in liability issues for the property owner. It is also very important
that the
City has the phone numbers for all multi-residential units for its PRISM-911 database.
PRISM-GIS and PRISM-911 have been presented twice at the Ontario Fire College and also at the ESRI Regional User Conferences in Ottawa and Toronto. The City believes this is the first of its kind in Canada and is very proud to offer such an invaluable service to the citizens of Quinte West. In the coming months, staff will be testing the system and contacting residents using the PRISM-911 Voicegate Municipal Telephone Notification system.
PRISM-911 – “Keeping You Informed and Safe”
IMPORTANT NOTICE
PRISM-911 will never request Financial or Personal Information (except Name, Address and Phone #).
If you receive such a call please contact Quinte West OPP at 613-392-3561.
PRISM-911 Information Form
Please fill in the following so that we may contact you in an emergency: (Fields marked with an * are mandatory)
The information provided will only be used in the event of an emergency and not released to any third party.
Disclaimer
PRISM-911 is a community emergency notification application that was developed by the City of Quinte West GIS\IT Department. This is the first known Canadian made application of this kind and was officially launched on March 4th 2008.
PRISM-911 is NOT Reverse-911®. Reverse-911® is an American emergency notification application owned and operated by a company of the same name. Although the Press and Public sometimes mistakenly refers to PRISM-911 as Reverse-911® that is an error and the City of Quinte West regrets this common referral.
PRISM-911 was developed by a Canadian municipality for Canadian municipalities. It is a web based application that uses various Canadian technology.
613-392-2841, ask for extension 4545 and provide your contact information in the voice mailbox for PRISM-911. You can also send an email to 
