County to purchase additional dispatch mapping licenses after Microsoft ended Bing mapping support
Summary
County staff requested purchase of additional licenses from Marvelous (dispatch vendor) to replace onboard Bing mapping (decommissioned by Microsoft) at an estimated one‑time cost of $20,250 and an ongoing per‑license annual cost around $68.75; servers and infrastructure are already in place.
Paul reported that the county’s onboard ambulance client lost Bing mapping after Microsoft ended support for the mapping service in June, which removed onboard navigation for crews on July 7. The county previously uses a dispatch CAD client (Marvelous) with servers in place; staff requested additional licenses for the Marvelous navigation solution to restore onboard mapping.
Costs and procurement: Paul said the replacement will cost roughly $20,250 for additional licenses and that the annual per‑license cost is about $68.75 (the county’s prior cost for a navigator license was about $66.35). The county already has the server infrastructure and an agreement with Marvelous; the purchase would extend licenses to cover current needs for the next couple of years.
Why it matters: on‑board mapping directs ambulance crews to calls; losing onboard navigation affects operational efficiency and could slow response. Restoring mapping preserves call navigation capability used by crews.
Action and next steps: staff presented the license purchase request during committee of the whole and indicated the $20,250 figure and annual per‑license cost; no formal vote was recorded in the committee discussion. The purchase will proceed through purchasing protocols if the board approves at the appropriate meeting.
Context note: staff said they had budgeted capital dollars earlier to replace legacy client software after vendor ZOLL discontinued support for the previous onboard client in January 2025.
