GIS expert: To help emergency services, hundreds of addresses are going to have to be changed in Edcouch and Elsa

EDCOUCH, Texas – The cities of Elsa and Edcouch are going to have to inform hundreds of residents that their addresses are going to have to change. 

The changes are being made in part so that emergency services know where to go when they receive a 911 call. 

AIM GIS Solutions is the company Elsa and Edcouch are using to update their digital maps. The company’s founder, Sergio Castro, acknowledged that some addresses will have to change. 

“As of right now, we know that there’s going to be hundreds of residents whose addresses will have to change,” Castro told the Rio Grande Guardian, in an exclusive interview. “I don’t have an exact count for each one of the cities right now, but definitely it’s in the hundreds that we will be impacting.”

Castro continued: “We’re going to have to send them a letter and let them know… please be advised your physical address is not in accordance with the city schema. And due to safety of life and not being correct in the 911 database system, this address correction letter is being issued to you.”

Castro said he knows how confusing a change of address can be. He said his company stands ready to help inform the three key databases that matter.

“In order to fix the addressing issue, there are three major databases that you have to fix. Number one is your 911 database. So once we’re done with the data updates and changes and everything, there’ll be coordination with the RGV 911 organization. We’ll let them know this is the new database system for addresses and everything, so they can update their 911 system. This is what they call your 911 physical address. This is the physical location of your property,” Castro said.

“But there are two more databases that you want to worry about. One is the Hidalgo County Appraisal District’s database, which governs the legality of the property. And the third database is the United States Postal Service. If you don’t get your new address into that database, the outside world will not know your physical address. Hence the issue about mail delivery problems, package delivery problems. If you hit those three databases and give it the time necessary to cycle through the systems, the address changes will be okay.”

Castro said because many small cities do not have an addressing coordinator, addressing is not maintained properly. 

“Having the wrong address creates a safety of life concern. In my previous work with 911, if you do not have the correct address and you have a 911 emergency concern, it could potentially lead to somebody dying when that death could have been avoided,” Castro said.

Castro can remember one particular incident from his 911 days. 

“I use this incident to emphasize the importance of a good address because it has stayed with me,” Castro said. “I had to go to the home and explain to a four-year-old why his mom had died. A 911 call came in. Unfortunately, this street was duplicated on the northern and southern sides of the city and was also in the same block range. Unfortunately, when the 911 call was made it was due to a heart attack. With a heart attack, seconds count. Unfortunately, the ambulance did not go to the correct address. They ended up being on the north side of town when they should have been on the south side of town. Unfortunately, the person passed away.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the presentation Sergio Castro made at the recent 2025 Delta Area Summit hosted by Elsa Economic Development Corporation:

And here is an exclusive interview the Rio Grande Guardian secured with Sergio Castro:

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