GlossaryDispatch and call records
Automatic number identification
Automatic number identification (ANI) is a telephone-system feature that provides the calling telephone number to a 911 answering center.
Automatic number identification (ANI) is a telephone-system feature that provides the calling telephone number to a 911 answering center. It helps identify a number associated with the incoming call. ANI is number information; it does not, by itself, establish the caller's identity or the location of the emergency.
Reading a 911 record
A call-handling record may show a received telephone number alongside an address, coordinates, and information entered by the call taker. Those fields have different origins. Oklahoma's 911 terminology describes ANI as the feature that supplies a caller's telephone number at the public safety answering point, the center designated to receive emergency calls.
For interpretation, keep the received number separate from any callback number supplied during the conversation. A person can report an emergency involving someone else or occurring at another location. The presence of a number does not establish that the telephone's subscriber was the person speaking.
Example
Hypothetical example: A resident calls 911 from a mobile telephone to report smoke at a neighbor's home. The call record contains an ANI number and a separately entered incident address across the street.
The ANI identifies the number associated with the call. The incident-address field describes where assistance was requested. Treating the number as proof of who lives at the incident address would combine two different pieces of information.
Common confusion
Automatic location identification supplies location-related information. ANI supplies number information. Neither term describes the call's eventual disposition, such as a referral or dispatch of responders.
A public call log may omit telephone numbers while retaining a generalized incident location. That published view should not be read as a complete copy of the answering center's information.
System differences
The federal 911 definitions describe ANI in the context of identifying the calling party and potential callback use. To interpret a particular export, check whether its number field is received ANI, an operator-entered number, or a masked public value.