Progressing the service tagging of frequency and talkgroup data

As many are aware, back in January of 2008, we released a new set of functions to allow our database administrators to begin tagging frequency entries and talkgroup entries in the database with a number of new fields, mainly location information, service tags, updated alpha tag functions, and other attributes. One of the most important components of those new functions were service tags, which is a predefined set of 30 different tags that can identify how a frequency or trunked system talkgroup is used.

One of the most important reasons why service tagging has been released is to prepare the RadioReference database for the eventual ability to respond to more natural language queries, such as "show me all fire dispatch frequencies in my area." This is an important distinction from how most reference sources are queried today and should speed the rate of innovation and delivery of services from RadioReference.com.

Tagging all new and existing frequencies and talkgroups in the database is a tedious task, and to facilitate the adoption of tagging, RadioReference is now going to allow any registered user on the RadioReference.com Web site the ability to tag any frequency and talkgroup with one of the predefined 30 tags if a tag does not already exist. This does not mean that our admins are not doing their jobs, but it does mean that they need assistance in tagging existing data that is very extensive and very tedious. 170,000 people are better than 80 to get this structured and extensive process completed.

Expect the release of this new functionality to happen the weekend of May 31st 2008. For those registered users who are interested in participating, please see the Services Tags and Guidance for Use article, which outlines how tags should be implemented.

Your help is needed, and we look forward to seeing the results!