Introduction to Locate and Verify – Intersections and Streets
About this lesson
Overview
This lesson introduces the locate and verify process when entering events into
CARD.
Learning
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
objectives
locate and verify intersections
locate and verify a street
Use the information in the range box to verify locations.
Assessment
Formative assessment of this material takes place during:
CARD topic lessons
Revise, integrate and practice sessions
Summative assessment of this material takes place during the practical
assessment.
Resources
CARD training terminals
Locate and verify locations
Trainers practical technology guide
References
This lesson is based on information from the Trainers practical technology
guide.
Duration
2 hours
Delivery
This lesson is delivered in three stages:
strategy and
Intersections
lesson stages
Streets including state highways
Range.
The lesson uses the explain, demonstrate and practice strategy.
Trainer’s notes
Introduction
Welcome
Welcome participants to the lesson and introduce the topic.
Revision and
Explain: We have had an introductory look at CARD and have explored the
entry level
maps.
Question participants to recall learning from the last lesson.
Lesson
To enable us to help a caller, it is imperative that we know where police need
overview
to go. If we can’t or don’t get a correct location, it will impact on our ability
to provide assistance to those that need it.
Locate and Verify is a two part process by which we not only locate a person
or event, but we also verify that we have the correct location. To help us, we
must use good questioning and listening skills.
There are a many different types of locations where events occur. We enter
the locations differently depending on the type of location and use computer
characters to help CARD identify the type of location. We will look at each
different type of location during the course.
Explain there are numerous ways to locate and verify events and callers. For
this lesson, we are going to start off learning ways that are the most useful for
Road Policing events – intersections, state highways, and streets. We will
build on the different ways to locate and verify over the next view days and
there will be ample opportunity to practice all methods.
Let’s start with some of the quickest and most common location types.
Stage 1 - Intersections
Introduction to
Intersections are a very easy and accurate way to locate an incident. This
Intersections
stage of the lesson will show you how to enter these locations in CARD.
Resources
CARD training terminals
Trainers practical technology guide
List of intersections
Duration
30 minutes
Go To field
Explain the Go To field is where all addresses are entered. It is one of only
two mandatory fields that must be completed to allow an event to be
accepted.
It is called “Go To” because that is where the police need to “Go To” to deal
with the incident.
The Go To field is a search engine. We enter information into the field and
indicate what type of search we want the system to carry out by specifying
with a character. eg: comma for streets, forward slash for intersections etc.
Explain that if the search doesn’t return the correct information the first time,
the result will not change unless we change some of the criteria entered such
as road type, spelling, or location.
Ask the participants to press the create button. This will ensure that they start
with a blank event information screen.
Entering the
In the Go To field, type in the first street name.
first street of
the intersection
Explain:
The street type (eg Rd, Ave, St etc) is not required but if you do type it
here, you must type it for the next street name.
Note - the system defaults to upper case.
Intersection
Explain that the symbol to tell CARD that the location is an intersection is the
character
forward slash.
Type a / (forward slash) character. Do not add any spaces between the street
name and the forward slash.
Entering the
Type the second street name and press enter.
second street of
the intersection
The location may automatically verify and place a marker on the map where
the location is. Alternatively, the system may list a number of possible
locations that fit the criteria. We will look at this in stage 2 of this lesson.
Verifying the
Once participants have located the intersection, ask how can we verify the
location
location?
Answers should include:
ask what city, town, or suburb they are in, or
any nearby landmarks like rivers, schools, parks etc.
Explain to participants they should ask questions until they are happy that
they know exactly where the caller or the event is. Once they are happy that
they have verified the location, then you can move on.
Be mindful that callers may not be aware of the suburb particularly if it is
near the boundary to the next suburb or if they are not local to the area.
Practice
Use the list of intersections that automatically verify and repeat the process as
necessary to ensure that all participants practice entering an intersection.
Recap
Locate and verify is a two part process and is the most important component
of event entry. For every event we must accurately locate where police need
to go and then we must verify that we have got the address correct. This is
done by asking relevant questions that will allow the caller to confirm details
such as what city, town or suburb they are in, nearby landmarks, or streets.
Stage 2 – Streets, including State Highways
Introduction to
One of the most common address types we use are street addresses. This
the street
stage of the lesson will show you how to enter these locations in CARD.
addresses
Resources
CARD training terminals
Trainers practical technology guide
List of streets to enter (including State Highways)
Duration
30 minutes
Street types
There are many different types of streets.
Ask participants to identify these and write them on the whiteboard. Discuss
how the street types have been written either in full or common abbreviations.
The “Go To” field accepts all types of street names.
Use the street type if known to limit the search results. The system will accept
full both full spelling or standard abbreviations e.g. Avenue, Ave, or Av.
Street
Type in the character (field delimiter) used for street addresses which is a
,
character
(comma). The comma tells CARD to search what is before it first. We can
help limit the search by using a locality after the comma.
Ask participants to type in Victoria St (comma) and enter. Discuss the
number of results that are returned.
Locality
Locality is not required to be entered but to narrow the search, the major town
or city name should be entered, particularly for State Highways which we will
discuss shortly.
Ask participants to cancel the range window and click create abandon to clear
the screen.
Ask participants to enter Victoria St, Petone. (or a location in your area)
Discuss the difference in the returned search.
If additional information needs to be entered, e.g. the name of a business,
Additional
once the location is verified, type a
: (colon) after the address and add the
information
additional information. The colon tells the system not to try and use the
following information to locate the address.
Demonstrate this to the participants.
Enter the
Press enter and check that the relevant street is shown in bold on the map screen.
location
Graphic locate
Double click on the street where the verification marker is to be placed. The
address in the Go To field will be changed to reflect the new verification.
State highways
State highways are treated the same way as a street. To avoid us having to
as streets
type this in full we use SH (space) and then the highway number. Always try
to use a locality as it will search the entire length of the highway which for
example SH 1 the entire length of the country.
Verify the
Practice asking questions to verify that the correct address has been located.
location
Practice
Repeat as necessary to ensure all participants practice.
Recap
Street locations and intersections are common locations that we get to verify.
Use the tools that we have talked about today e.g. the range box, your ability
to ask questions and listen for the answers, to ensure that you not only
correctly locate the address but to verify that you have the correct address.
Stage 3 – Range window
Introduction to
If CARD has more than one alternative for a location, or can’t find a location,
the range
it will ask which one you want. It does this by giving you a list in the range
window
window.
Examples of when this may occur are:
several towns or cities that have the same street name
the street name has been spelt incorrectly
the address given does not exist according to our system records.
Resources
CARD training terminals
Trainers Practical Guide
Duration
30 minutes
Range window
Ask participants to enter “Seaview Rd” followed by a comma in the Go To
field.
Ask participants to now press enter.
The range window should appear. Discuss the various options available in the
range window (refer to pages 57-59 of the practical guide).
Practice
Repeat as necessary to ensure all participants practice.
Recap
The range window will appear if there is more than one, or no matches to the
location criteria that you have entered. It starts the verification process and it
gives you options to check that you have the correct location to send police.
Conclusion
Review
Today we have looked at:
locating and verifying intersections,
locating and verifying street addresses
the Range window and its options.
Summary
Locate and verify is the most important aspect of entering an event. We
cannot begin to help our callers if we don’t know where they are.
Locate and verify is a two part process and we must always carry out both
parts of the process.
So far we have looked at two different ways to locate and verify. We have
learnt about:
intersections
street addresses.
We will continue to build on these and learn other ways to locate and verify
events.
Look forward
Explain the next lesson include:
topic title (6 steps process)
who the trainer is
where the lesson will take place
what time the lesson will start.
