Abstract

Critical Data Collection and Emergency Application
Track: Disaster Management and Emergency Response
Authors: Jianwu Chen

GPS and mobile GIS technology are used for different projects at South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Here, three projects will be presented: Healthcare Facility Data Collection, Vulnerability Assessment, and Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER). In the first project, we have since 2004 used three kinds of GPS receivers and will use two new ones to update the geocoded coordinates of health facilities as a critical layer in different emergency applications. In the second project, DHEC regional emergency coordinators are inspecting the Risk Management Permit facilities and Tier II chemical facilities. In the third project, 10 teams will, per request, be dispatched to an area affected by a disaster such as a hurricane to evaluate community rapid needs. In all projects, we use ArcPad Studio to customize the ArcPad interface and design project questionnaire forms for field crew to work efficiently.