Fire GIS and The Large City: Worcester's Fire GIS Mobile System Author: Hugo Cardenas 418 Main Street, Suite 400 Phone: 508-799-1400
Fire departments across the United States are discovering a great deal of support from Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Fire departments are using GIS to improve their response time when responding to a fire incident; the response time is improved my mapping the shortest routes to the fire, considering the least impedances. The GIS need does not end with the shortest path layout; Firemen still need the use of GIS to find closest hydrants, locate vulnerable centers in the area, and determine population estimates. Providing Firemen with geographic information at every fire incident is not an easy task. Firstly, it is very unlikely to find network connections to data servers where fire incidents occur. Secondly, the amount of information needed might reside in many City departments or agencies, taking a great deal of retrieval effort. |