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4 The Challenge: Providing Geospatial Data, Tools, and Information Where and When They Are Needed
Pages 87-132

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From page 87...
... It is important to note that this study deals with the intersection of two distinct communities -- the emergency response community and the geospatial community. The issues discussed may have their roots in one community or the other, but the resolution of these challenges will require both communities to work together, as reflected in the recommendations.
From page 88...
... The committee heard from many federal, state, and local emergency management professionals during its deliberations and during the study's workshop, as well as from several representatives of the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
From page 89...
... From an emergency management perspective, maps enable the location-specific assessment of hazard, risk, vulnerability, and damage. They are required with different levels of geographic detail throughout the emergency management cycle, from the moment an incident occurs through long-term recovery and into mitigation.
From page 90...
... Data on the ownership of land parcels, or cadastral data, provide a particular and in some ways extreme example of the problems that currently pervade the use of geospatial data in emergency management. Vast amounts of such data exist, but they are distributed among tens of thousands of local governments, many of which have not invested in digital systems and instead maintain their land-parcel data in paper form.
From page 91...
... As its first, overarching conclusion, the committee believes that the importance of geospatial data and tools should be recognized and integrated into all phases of emergency management and, specifically, into the national plans and policies reviewed in Section 3.3 and existing emergency management procedures. RECOMMENDATION 1: The role of geospatial data and tools should be addressed explicitly by the responsible agency in strate gic planning documents at all levels, including the National Re sponse Plan, the National Incident Management System, the Target Capabilities List, and other pertinent plans, procedures, and poli cies (including future Homeland Security Presidential Directives)
From page 92...
... completed in 2002 and 2003,13 and another is the work done by Emergency Management Alberta.14 In these three examples, a common principle is that agreements must be discussed, negotiated, and formalized 6The current version of the circular can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/ a016/a016_rev.html. 7http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/pdf/12906.pdf.
From page 93...
... The FGDC's Future Directions Initiative recently provided a highlevel look at the nation's sharing and use of geospatial information and the development of the NSDI.15 The study report finds that geospatial data and information have been identified as valuable assets in conducting the business of government. In the post-9/11 era, there is a heightened appreciation of the importance of geospatial data to support homeland security needs and other critical requirements.
From page 94...
... The Committee on Planning for Catastrophe also reviewed the current governance structure of the NSDI in light of this study and discussed whether it was adequate to provide effective coordination across state, local, and federal governments and the private and not-for-profit sectors in the particular context of emergency management. The arguments and conclusions of the Future Directions Initiatives study resonated strongly with the committee, which concluded that the proposed changes in the governance structure would provide a much more effective framework for geospatial data and tools in emergency management.
From page 95...
... DHS should play a lead role in ensuring that the special needs of emergency management for effective data sharing and collaboration are recognized as an important area of emphasis for this new governance structure. 4.2 GEOSPATIAL DATA ACCESSIBILITY A critical requirement for emergency preparedness, response, and mitigation is to have rapid access to the most accurate, up-to-date geospatial content, whether it be current wind speed and direction, the location of hospitals, damage assessment data, or the results of predictive flood models.
From page 96...
... 4.2.1 Data Sharing The unwillingness to share geospatial data is by no means universal, and many entities make their data free and easily accessible for use by the public. Many do not, however, particularly local governments or private utility companies, where some of the most important geospatial data for emergency management often reside.
From page 97...
... It is impractical to expect that the data-sharing policies of all government entities will be the same. However, it is reasonable to expect that all government and private entities have clearly defined data-sharing policies and guidelines, especially for data relevant to emergency management.
From page 98...
... ,b the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) ,c and the FGDC,d it would be easier to integrate NPMS data with other geospatial data in emergency management operations as part of a national fabric of critical infrastructure information within the framework of the NSDI.
From page 99...
... , and plans to establish 50 state coordinating councils that will contribute routinely to the governance of the NSDI. Statewide councils will bring consistency to the NSDI by · Serving as a focal point to aggregate the activities of all sectors into the NSDI in a functional way; · Providing incentives for non-federal entities to adopt appropriate national standards; · Working together on data production, infrastructure, and application development to avoid duplication; · Ensuring routine data access by all sectors; · Establishing sharing agreements for data not in the public domain; · Publishing lists of data stewards and integrators for framework themes; · Publishing metadata for framework themes in the NSDI clearing house; · Providing functioning tools for maintaining the clearinghouse inventory; · Participating in the National Map initiative;a and · Adopting appropriate data-sharing standards including -- A commitment to implement appropriate Open Geospatial Con sortium (OGC)
From page 100...
... Only a subset of attributes may be needed for emergency management, and lower levels of geographic detail may also be sufficient. Data sharing may be much more palatable to data owners if it involves only subsets of attributes or coarser levels of geographic detail.
From page 101...
... (Institutional, human, and political issues that make it difficult for individuals and organizations to work together and lack of legal interoperability due to inconsistencies between the legal contexts in which different individuals and organizations operate are discussed in other sections of this chapter.) Achieving effective interoperability for emergency management may require radical changes to the ways in which organizations work, especially to their attitudes about information.
From page 102...
... Therefore, there is an Emergency Management Technical Committee that has representatives from many organizations, such as DHS, Warning Systems Inc., the Capital Wireless Integrated Network (CAPWIN) , the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
From page 103...
... . The use of geospatial data during the 9/11 recovery efforts was much more effective because the local geospatial professionals working with these data were familiar with them and understood their complexities and high level of accuracy.
From page 104...
... While a few data custodians prefer to not provide their data until after an event has occurred, presentations to the committee made it clear that access is needed prior to an event during the preparedness phase in support of training and planning, and because pressures during the response phase are so great that the process of acquiring data would delay other essential activities. The level of interoperability necessary to enable systems to exchange and use data and tools, without special effort on the part of the user, can essentially be achieved by the adoption of policies stressing the importance of interoperability and requiring standards-based software, terminologies, and communications in all emergency management-related activities.
From page 105...
... and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) also would be critical in their development, but even more so in helping to ensure that standards are adopted and disseminated to the emergency management community.
From page 106...
... Data that are not secure may be subject to intentional tampering as well as inadvertent corruption. Thus, many agencies believe that data shared for emergency management must be held securely, and if security cannot be guaranteed, many data custodians will be unwilling to provide their data.
From page 107...
... Mechanisms also exist within this framework for agencies to contribute their own data, which will be available to others during emergencies under the same constraints. Conclusion Data security is a key element of any data-sharing effort in support of emergency management, and a mechanism that will protect and reassure
From page 108...
... All organizations should implement these guidelines for all data shared in support of emergency management and should use them where necessary to restrict access to appropri ately authorized personnel. In concert with these efforts, the lever aging of existing organizations that could potentially serve as a "clearinghouse" for critical infrastructure data should be explored.
From page 109...
... All four platforms are developing rapidly, particularly in those aspects that can potentially benefit emergency management, so they are discussed in some detail from that perspective in the following paragraphs. The fixed-wing airplane is the most common platform for aerial imaging and mapping.
From page 110...
... Further improvements are likely, with private-sector imaging firms planning to launch "next-generation" satellites before the end of the decade that will collect imagery with even greater geographic detail, allowing objects as small as half a meter or less to be detected. As the level of detail improves and the number of commercial satellites increases, the remote-sensing industry has the potential to become an increasingly significant source of geospatial data for emergency managers.
From page 111...
... . The military, which recognizes the importance of "over-the-hill" surveillance, has been experimenting with mini-UAVs for more than a decade.21 By contrast, the Air Force's sophisticated high-altitude endurance class Global Hawk, which can attain an altitude of 65,000 feet and keep a payload of 1,960 pounds aloft for 42 hours, can be operated from a base hundreds of miles away.22 Less expensive but no less relevant to emergency response imaging is the Air Force's medium-altitude endurance class Predator, which can fly above 40,000 feet and sustain 29 hours of flight with a 700-pound payload.
From page 112...
... While this has led to duplication of effort or confusion among the various private industry vendors contracted to acquire imagery, these problems currently are being addressed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and DHS with USGS and NGA as the lead agencies.
From page 113...
... 4.5 COMMUNICATION OF REPORTS TO AND FROM THE FIELD As noted and documented in previous sections of this report, data and information are critical to the responders and emergency managers dealing with a disaster. The committee heard that information may be known by first responders on the front line but not known by managers in the command post or the emergency operations center (EOC)
From page 114...
... While most disaster-related missions require high-resolution data, responders in the JFO, EOCs, and Emergency Response and Recovery Offices (ERROs) are typically unable to work with the huge files involved.
From page 115...
... Plans must be in place for the provision of broad-band Internet and intranet services to emergency responders or for data transmission through other means such as physical transport of CDs or other digital media. Likewise, firewall issues that prevent access to essential data by members of multiple agencies located at disaster sites (e.g., a JFO, the FEMA National Response Coordination Center, FEMA's Regional Response Coordination Centers, or other locations not run by the responding personnel)
From page 116...
... RECOMMENDATION 6: Interpersonal, institutional, technical, and procedural communications problems that currently inhibit communication between first responders in the field and emergency operations centers, emergency management agency headquarters, and other coordinating centers should be addressed through inten sive preparedness exercises by groups involved in all aspects of di saster management. Such exercises should be tailored to focus on clear objectives with respect to the use of geospatial data and assets.
From page 117...
... It should assign responsibility for archiving and backup in the JFOs during an incident to the Fed eral Emergency Management Agency, with an appropriate level of funding provided to perform this function.
From page 118...
... Since another recent NRC report has an extensive discussion of technologies and methods for disaster research that includes geospatial data, research, and technology (NRC, 2006) , this report focuses on impediments to the take-up of existing tools and the need to adapt them better to the conditions of emergency management.
From page 119...
... THE CHALLENGE 119 FIGURE 4.1 Example of modeling of ground shaking in the northwestern United States. Courtesy of the Washington State Emergency Management Division and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
From page 120...
... Army Corps of Engineers is participating in the development of a decision support system that will help communities and regulatory agencies evaluate the consequences of different potential land-use decisions in a river subbasin on communities located downstream.24 24The High Resolution Land Conversion, Hydrology, and Water Quality Modeling of Large Watersheds is a joint project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, and the Corps' Rock Island District, in conjunction with local communities.
From page 121...
... Another successful system presented to the committee was by the Province of Alberta, in which GIS and geospatial data are an integral part of its full emergency management operations system. These successful systems often concerned single disciplines or small jurisdictions where it was possible to avoid the kinds of interagency issues addressed earlier in this report.
From page 122...
... Finally, the loss estimations represent "direct" damage, not "indirect" losses such as lost wages, loss of business earnings, or loss of building use, in the overall loss estimation. As one emergency management professional told the committee, a
From page 123...
... The committee concludes that efforts should be made to more effectively integrate the use of geospatial tools into all phases of emergency management, as proposed in Recommendation 1. Additional research is needed on how geospatial data and tools can be used for decision support in the special conditions that prevail during emergency response.
From page 124...
... , and by including modules in other emergency management classes showing how geospatial data and tools can be used in all phases of emergency management, will it become clear to future generations of emergency managers that geospatial data and tools have significant contributions to make. Furthermore, because geospatial information is often taken at face value, and since the response community is getting greater access to multiple sources of geospatial data, it is critical to ensure that the underlying assumptions, data quality, and uncertainty are conveyed properly.
From page 125...
... Many geospatial professionals who become involved in emergency response are not routinely associated with the emergency management community in their normal roles, however. It is essential therefore that training be provided as part of emergency preparedness or, at worst, that it be part of the orientation process when geospatial professionals or volunteers join response and recovery teams.
From page 126...
... One of the common problems reported to the committee was the lack of a preestablished team of geospatial professionals to support emergency response within a significant number of emergency management organizations. As a result, when a catastrophe occurs, a significant amount of effort and time is wasted to locate geospatial professionals, bring them into the emergency management organization, and provide them with resources to accomplish their mission.
From page 127...
... In the sometimes desperate hours following Katrina's landfall, experts in geographic infor mation services -- GIS -- helped search and rescue crews reach more than 75 stranded survivors in Mississippi. One of their most valuable tools was a process called "geocoding," the conversion of street addresses into GPS coordinates.
From page 128...
... RECOMMENDATION 10: The Federal Emergency Management Agency should expand its team of permanent geospatial profession als, and develop strategies that will lead to their more rapid deploy ment both in response to events and in advance of events when specific and reliable warnings are given. RECOMMENDATION 11: The Department of Homeland Security should establish and maintain a secure list of appropriately quali fied geospatial professionals who can support emergency response during disasters.
From page 129...
... Collection of variables particularly important for emergency management might be piggybacked on existing data collection activities at minimal additional cost, and similar economies might be found in the costs of data dissemination. Many changes will be needed in existing practices if geospatial preparedness is to be funded more adequately.
From page 130...
... The report recommended ways in which these consortia could pool and align intergovernmental and public-private investments in geospatial data acquisition and maintenance; decision support applications; and supporting hardware, software, and integration services. Financial mechanisms such as government-backed bonding authority for use by local governments, revolving loan programs, and other debt structures were suggested for use in a range of capital planning strategies.
From page 131...
... This program could be used for geospatial preparedness activities. The Department of Homeland Security has a number of grant programs for emergency management in which geospatial activities could be included as part of the applicant's proposal.
From page 132...
... DHS should expand and focus a specifically designated component of its grant programs to promote geospatial preparedness through development, acquisition, sharing, and use of standard-based geospatial information and technology; (2) states should include geospatial preparedness in their planning for homeland security; and (3)


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