Leveraging your GIS as a Collaborative Platform

Virtual USA: Advancing Interoperability at All Levels of Government

—Marc Caplan, Dept of Homeland Security: Science and Technology Directorate

The emergency response community depends upon access to real-time, actionable information for day-to-day and emergency operations, particularly where there is a need for interactions across disciplines, jurisdictions, and multiple levels of government. While there is an increasingly large amount of available information, much of it is inaccessible or of questionable value to the people who need it, when they need it, and in the form they need to see it. Virtual USA (vUSA) creates a cost effective, nationwide capability driven by practioners that significantly improves information sharing and decision making. Based on current and emerging technologies and practices, including GIS, vUSA enables faster discovery and exchange of critical information that is presented in a geographic context - thereby making it actionable. Developed in partnership with the emergency preparedness and response communities, vUSA improves their ability to fulfill various missions by ensuring practitioners at all levels have real-time and seamless access to the information they need to make better decisions.