Little Green Signs

1. Little Green Signs Just What the Heck Are These?

2. Highway Reference Markers NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

3. Highway Reference Markers • Actually, this is a quite complicated program initiated by NYS DOT. • These signs are placed approximately 1/10 of a mile apart on all State, US and Interstate highways in New York State. • County and Regional maps of these markers hopefully are available from the DOT. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

4. Highway Reference Markers • At 2 a.m. in the middle of February in a snow bank, its very hard for a shaken up driver that has never been anywhere near here before to tell your dispatcher where he is. • This reference marker will identify, within some degree of accuracy, where the caller is located. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

5. Highway Reference Markers • Each row of numbers obviously mean something. • Without getting really, really technical and confusing, I’ll attempt to explain… NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

6. Highway Reference Markers • The top row is the highway or route designation. • In some cases, this number will be followed by a letter. • Interstate highways are identified with an “I”. • It may often be misread as a one. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

7. Highway Reference Markers • The middle row has four numeric spaces. • The first digit is the NYSDOT Region, one of eleven. • Region ten is signified by the numeral 0 and region eleven is signified by the letter X. • The second digit is the county code. The counties are alphabetized within its region and assigned numbers according to the list. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

8. Highway Reference Markers • Row 2 digit 3 and 4 give the county order number. • This may be construed to be the number of counties that the route has passed through since entering the state. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

9. Highway Reference Markers • The bottom row… • Digit 1 is the control segment number. • This is the division of a route within a county and increases by one when crossing a city line. • The last 3 digits of the bottom row are sequencing numbers, or distances from the beginning of a control segment. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

10. Highway Reference Markers • The bottom row is generally where the confusion comes in. • For the sake of argument, lets just consider these to be 1/10 mile apart. • A complete explanation can be found at: http://www.empirestateroads.com/rm/2.html NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

11. OK, so now what? • Now that you have this knowledge, what are you going to do with it? • It really isn’t necessary to remember much of this previous information. It was just to make you aware of how the numbers came together. • Understand though, each number, each sign is unique within the entire state. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

12. OK, so now what? • We have found that using this system is quite helpful and generally easy to use… • After it is set up! • You will need a complete listing of State, US and Interstate routes within your jurisdiction. • And the reference markers on them. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

13. OK, so now what? • Space out your tasks. • Look at each roadway individually. • Even then it may be beneficial to break those routes even more, into smaller segments. • Regardless of how you attack the solution, everything is somewhat redundant for each route and each segment. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

14. OK, so now what? • Initially, I laid out an Excel spreadsheet for the entire project. • This is about as simple as I could make it… • But I know what I mean and may have some trouble making it clear to you… • If you have questions…Ask! NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

15. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

16. OK, so now what? • Column A is the route number, Row 1. • Column B is Row 2 & 3 jammed together, creating one, eight-digit number. • This will make better sense later on. • Column C is the township, and • Column E is the “corrected” mile marker. • On I-81, we use mile markers in tenths, like 6250 for the 62 ½. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

17. OK, so now what? • The Interstate is easy… • Given tenths of a mile… • Reference markers every tenth of a mile… • Not too tough to figure out! • Each marker is the last marker plus 10 (as in 6260 from 6250). NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

18. Ciphering • Not being an exact representation, this is a mathematical solution. • You need to know where you are before you figure how to get to where you’re going… • To begin the calculation, you have to have a known point… • Actually two – beginning and end. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

19. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

20. Ciphering • Start your calculation by subtracting the low number from the high number. • Divide that result by the number of reference markers in that range. • If you get 260 and have 10 markers, each marker is worth 26 house numbers. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

21. Ciphering • Using the low-end house number, add the result, 26, to it for the next reference number. • The formula for D13 would be something like D12+26 and give you the resulting number. • Copy that formula to each cell up to and including the high house number for the range. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

22. Ciphering • This is not an exact representation but it should be close enough that a unit going to that area should be able to see the caller or the scene. • Your GIS department should be able to create a map layer of all of these reference points for you. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

23. Finding a Location • Ok, now that I’ve done all of this work, how do I find a location? • In the slides, you noted the route number tabs across the bottom… • Select the route that you are wishing to search… • Use the ‘find’ feature in Excel. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

24. Finding a Location • This is initiated by clicking the ‘find’ icon or using (Ctrl+F). • In the search window, enter the 8-digit number from Rows 2 & 3 from before. • Such as 32041013 and enter… • In our second slide, this finds the place to be 460 Rt 13. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

25. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

26. Finding a Location • Considering the number used, 32041013, how far might this be from the county line? • In this case, it should be approximately 1.3 miles into your county. • The last two or three digits of the bottom line, 1013, indicate 13 markers or 1.3 miles. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

27. Finding a Location • On the Interstate and other divided highways, the markers are placed every 1/10th of a mile and on each side of the roadway simultaneously. • In other words, you will see every sign going in one direction. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

28. Finding a Location • On non-divided highways, the markers are still every 1/10th of a mile, • But staggered on opposite sides of the roadway, alternating direction from sign to sign. • You will still see the sign, it just may be facing the opposite direction. • One on the north bound, one on the south bound…east bound – west bound. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

29. More Information… • New York State GIS Clearinghouse is http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/ • NYS Reference Marker System – Not a State Site http://www.empirestateroads.com/rm/2.html • And try https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/about-nysdot/faq/small-green-signs-mean NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

30. More Information… • Here is the site for NYS-DOT Regional information… • https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/regional-offices • Across the top of the page are drop-down menus…one is Regional Offices NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

31. More Information… • Don’t worry about copying down these addresses… • This entire presentation will be emailed to the group. NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County

32. Questions? NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators Nick Wagner, Cortland County