An exemplary method automatically identifies the location of a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephone relative to the structure of a building upon the VOIP telephone making a 911 call. The identity of the VOIP telephone is transmitted to a database accessible by the VOIP system upon a 911 call origination. Records have been previously created and stored in the database that link each VOIP telephone located in or associated with a building to a text based description of an area of the building. A node instructs the database to find the stored record associated with the VOIP telephone. The identity of the VOIP telephone and the text based location information of the location of the VOIP telephone relative to the structure of the building are transmitted to the 911 call center. This enables a 911 call center operator to immediately discern the location of the 911 caller relative to the structure of the building.