WFAA-TV

The new neighborhood, just to the south of Shady Grove, does not show up on the map.

Development is all around North Texas.

But just because you get a new address, doesn’t mean your home exists in everyone’s world. Say a police officer or ambulance is trying to find a home near Shady Grove and Belt Line in Irving. The map in that area is blank.

Next to Belt Line Road and south of Shady Grove used to be old farms that had been there for decades. But now it is very much a neighborhood.

It has been ten months in the making, with families and young couples already living there. However, they are cut off from the world because they are off the map.

About three days after their move the boxes might be the easy part of the Tarr family relocation. “I know when your even trying to get the phone service called in and they’re like: ‘Streets, what? Where are you?’ My father-in-law even had some moves get lost,” said Brent Tarr.

They know their address, but everyone else doesn’t because they are off the map. It’s a problem that is growing as North Texas sprawls. New homes spring up just as the ink dries on the latest map.

Emergency responders in growth areas like Keller, Colleyville, and Frisco have to keep up and draw their own maps; sometimes weekly.

The maps don’t just show up on computers, developers are supposed to file plans ahead of the first foundation pouring.

Fire fighters spend their free time getting to know their turf. “Going around, driving through your district, know your main streets and usually just by glancing at your book, you can figure out the main streets and figure out where to go,” said one firefighter.

Addison-based Mapsco makes about 2500 additions and changes every year. “New streets, sub-division and schools, other points of interest are being added,” said Michael Harris of Mapsco.

One jumps off the pages of the 2007 Dallas edition, hot off the presses. And for the Tarr family, they have finally arrived at their new home. “Some people around us have had trouble getting the pizza service,” said Brent Tarr.

Perhaps they will have some pepperoni to celebrate, but the Tarr family will have to use a cell phone because the phones, cable, and mail service in the area is still not set up to go.

E-mail bhawkins@wfaa.com.