Welcome to the Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Community of Practice!
The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) has created this unique forum to address the application of mapping technologies such as GIS, GPS, and remote sensing to emergency and disaster response. In response to a perceived need, GITA held the first ever Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium in Seattle, Washington in March 2008. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and, in 2009, the symposium will once again bring together the worlds of emergency response and planning and geospatial technology April 19-22 in Tampa, Florida.
In offering this specialized education, GITA is seeking to meet the following critical goals:
- Provide educational sessions about the application of geospatial technologies to emergency and disaster response that are applicable to individual responders, operational managers, and support personnel in both communities
- Draw the geospatial professional and emergency response communities together in an effort to improve communication between the two groups
- Foster a better understanding between the two communities of the roles and responsibilities of each
- Encourage and assist the communities to maintain an ongoing dialogue so that all are better prepared to assist and achieve maximum efficiency in times of disaster and emergency
We intend this site to be a vital forum for information exchange and sharing of expertise. As such, we will continue to expand the opportunities for interaction among professionals interested in the intersection of emergency response and geospatial technology.
Coming soon:
- ER-Xchange – a repository of pertinent articles, “white papers,” presentations, reports and other resources to serve as your best reference to the use of geospatial technology in emergency response;
- A “Practitioners Pipeline” that will serve to identify the most urgent and relevant topics for the next symposium;
- ….and any other ideas that will help us complete our mission of “bridging the gap” between these two important communities.
Now Available:
- ERC-GITA – a place to meet, exchange ideas, discuss problems, ask questions, and share solutions.
Scroll down to link to podcasts and presentations from the 2008 Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium!
- Find out more about GITA's Geospatial Enabling Community Collaboration (GECCo) workshop, and check back soon for details on the Tampa GECCO, which will take place in early 2009.
Seminars |
Pre-Conference Seminar: Storm Response & Preparedness In the last several years, utilities have encountered a variety of natural disasters that resulted in catastrophic damage to infrastructure. The identification of potentially devastated areas prior to storms can greatly improve outage restoration efforts. Additionally, improving the utilization of field collected reports and faster acquisition of this information can result in shortened restoration activities. This workshop will introduce modern techniques available to reduce costs by more accurately predicting, identifying, and responding to major events. Attendees will learn about emerging trends focused on improving damage assessment, understand how weather prediction information can improve storm preparedness, and understand some common challenges associated with major storms. |
Pre-Conference Seminar: FEMA—Planning & Recovery, Are You Ready? View presentation here!(David Shapiro) This session will cover the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) perspective on pre-disaster preparedness, post-disaster response and recovery, and Federal funding through grants. Regional FEMA and other DHS representatives will provide attendees with an overview of disaster preparedness and pre-disaster hazard mitigation project grant opportunities. Examples of successful utility retrofit projects that have been funded by FEMA mitigation grants will be provided. FEMA will also present an overview of the declaration process and the Public Assistance Program, including site specific hazard mitigation. An overview of how FEMA utilizes GIS data in post disaster environment and the role that DHS FEMA plays in response and recovery providing situation awareness for critical infrastructure will be shared. Participants will also hear from a disaster consultant how your company can maximize their FEMA and insurance reimbursement claims. |
Pre-Conference Seminar: Map Reading for Emergency Responders Seminar Leader: Talbot Brooks, Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies, Delta State University |
Pre-Conference Seminar: The DHS Geospatial Data Model View the presentation here! |
Sessions |
Keynote Address: The Need for Geospatial Technologies in Emergency Response Before taking his current position at USGS, Craig Skalet served as the Deputy Regional Geographer for the Central Region (2004–2007) and Chief of the Rocky Mountain Mapping Center (2001–2004). Skalet’s career has included five years in National Mapping Division’s Office of Research at USGS Headquarters in Reston, Virginia (1983–1988) and six years with the Western Mapping Center in Menlo Park, California (1977–1983). He also worked briefly for the Defense Mapping Agency’s Hydrographic Center in Suitland, Maryland, before coming to USGS in 1977. |
Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency/Disaster Response: Application Areas And Needs Listen to the podcast now!
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Navigating the Disaster: From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of...Gulfport? Listen to the podcast now! |
GIS From the Frontlines: Recent Applications in Ohio Come experience the geospatial response to millennial floods and a fiery hazardous train derailment. In July of 2006, a saturated Lake County was inundated with additional storms that closed dozens of roads and caused nearly $50 million in infrastructure and other damage. Within days, a Web site was deployed and work started on support mapping for FEMA, Ohio State, and local officials. In August of 2007, GIS mapping supported the Ohio IMAT in another catastrophic flood response in western Ohio. Then, on October 12th, a CSX train carrying hazardous materials derailed, exploded into flames, and spilled hazardous cargo into nearby creeks. GIS was on the scene in minutes, serving up the evacuation zone on the Internet within 15 minutes of designation, and providing first responders and other officials with custom GIS products for the duration. |
Successful Response Starts with a Map: Improving Geospatial Support for Disaster Management Listen to the podcast now! The speakers, both members of the National Research Council Committee on Planning for Catastrophe, will summarize recommendations of a year-long study to examine the current use of geospatial data and tools in emergencies and to make recommendation to improve that use. The Committee’s final report addresses optimum ways to improve geospatial data, tools and infrastructure to support emergency response to disasters that result from natural occurrences and terrorist attacks. The NRC Committee study involved a broad cross-section of professionals from many different fields, including academia, utilities, public sector agencies, the federal government, the military, private sector geospatial solution providers, and others. The resulting report is intended to serve as a blueprint for national action to leverage geospatial technology in disaster response. |
Missing! Opportunities for the Application of Geospatial Technology in Land Search Listen to the podcast now! Land search and rescue often calls upon a wide spectrum of experts and volunteers to find a missing person, all of which are integrated into a standardized management system. How a search is conducted is not only dependent upon the person missing and the circumstances under which they “disappeared,” but also the landscape in which they became lost. While geospatial technologies offers an excellent set of tools for conducting searches, the need to standardize their application, define organizational roles, and cooperatively educate both the geospatial and emergency response communities is an overarching priority for successful implementation. This session will provide both an overview of land-based search and rescue and the potential entry points for geospatial technologies while suggesting some critical starting points for a standardized approach. |
The National Search and Rescue (SAR) Committee: Geographical Information in a Disaster Response—One Size Does Not Fit All Listen to the podcast now! This presentation will discuss the National SAR Committee's work in understanding and developing maritime, aeronautical, and land-based georeferencing requirements in a disaster response scenario. |
Managing and Distributing Maps and Spatially-based Information: Data Models and Distribution Techniques Listen to the podcast now! The current mantra among the emergency response community is “preparedness.” This need applies not only to emergency responders themselves, but also those persons and entities that are supported by them during times of crisis. This session will provide a detailed overview of how the State of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management employs and deploys geospatial information technologies to support its emergency responders. Data needs, database models, distribution techniques, and fundamental products will be discussed from first-hand experience in one of America’s most vulnerable areas. |
GIS at the Seattle Fire Department: New Tools in the Emergency Management Arsenal Listen to the podcast now! In the last several years, the Seattle Fire Department has embraced GIS as both the ends and the means of providing real-time geographic information to support its operations. Going beyond traditional production of the many maps needed to support emergency management, Seattle Fire enjoyed new benefits with the integration of GIS to its new dispatch/911 system in late 2003. Since then, Seattle Fire has continuously incorporated GIS data and applications for the use in both the planning and real-time management of incidents related to major events, premises requiring prefires, disasters of man-made and natural origin, and pandemic symptom analysis.
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At Your Service: TELUS’ Emergency Management Operating System Listen to the podcast now! |
Panel Discussions |
Panel Discussion: Emergency Response and CAD, GIS, BIM Convergence Convergence is occurring in the design, engineering, product development, construction, and geospatial disciplines. The goal is to ensure that everyone working on a project has a seamless flow of design information. The business drivers for this transformative technology advance are productivity and efficiency in the construction and facilities management industry, and improving the performance of facilities over their full life-cycle. The integration of model-driven design, building information modeling (BIM), 3-D visualization, CAD, geospatially-enabled relational database management systems (RDBMS), and other geospatial technology that is occurring, has important implications for emergency planning and response. |
Panel Discussion: Better Data Sharing and Information Articulation Up and Down the Line – Can We Talk? Listen to the podcast now!
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