As the limited resources of national, state, provincial, and local government budgets have increased demands placed on them, dual or multi-use systems offer significant potential for economic efficiency. Remote sensing and the exploitation of remote sensing products provide the best methods of leveraging dual-use technology. No government agency can afford a state-of-the-art geographic information system (GIS)-based emergency management system that stands idle in a just-in-case mode. Now is the time to exploit multifaceted employment of remote sensing and GIS-based systems. The success of this is directly dependent on the system design and development. The products and benefits of remote sensing have long been known to the military. Military and law enforcement agencies require and use sophisticated GIS systems, but rarely are they used for multifunctional applications outside their realm. The dual use of these systems, as well as new and replacement systems, has the potential to produce significant economies of scale. Take for example a GIS-based emergency management system located in California. To be responsive to emergency situations, this type of system would have to create and maintain an up-to-date comprehensive spatial database. One of its many emergency response missions might be to provide remote sensing-based oil spill diffusion model data to assist in control and cleanup efforts. Another might be to provide near real-time image maps for forest fire fighting efforts. Although this kind of system might be viewed as critical, rarely would it be used on a full-time basis. As its secondary mission, if the system was centered out of the University of California, Santa Barbara, faculty and students could use the systems to do research in remote sensing applications. If the system were designed to meet multifunction applications, it could also be used to provide GIS products to commercial companies for their application. Lockheed Martin, Management and Data Systems (M and DS) is building GIS and multispectral image processing systems for military and dual-use, nonmilitary applications. The systems range from those that are office based to totally self-contained, air transportable versions. The keys to M and DS's success include the exploitation of integrating commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software, enhancing and customizing the COTS products to meet specific user requirements, and the development of a capability to input an extremely wide variety of both raster and vector data formats. Options for direct downlink imagery receipt and other near real-time, remote sensing inputs and on-board communication are other important system features. In designing systems for multipurpose GIS applications, the greatest challenges come from data management, data quality management and validation, and the selection of data types to be applied to any given model. In the real world it seems that the ideal data for any given model is never available. Models must be designed to ensure they are not dependent on only one form of data. If a helicopter landing zone model must be run to support flood evacuation or relief efforts and the perfect data type isn't available, it is critical that alternatives be used to produce the needed results. This presentation will address designing systems for multi-purpose GIS applications, with specific emphasis on data management and the selection of data types to be applied to any given model.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Communities are required to adopt floodplain management ordinances to be included in the program. The Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) produced by FEMA is used by private and public sector interests to determine the location of flood prone areas. Locales that have experienced rapid suburbanization have found the maps to be quickly outdated because of a lack of current base information and exclusion of recent alterations to the floodplain. By establishing a GIS floodplain database layer, Loudoun County, Virginia, has been able to make more accurate delineations and economically maintain the data. When overlaid with other regularly maintained database layers, the information becomes much more versatile and visible. Products and services provided with the County's GIS include 1:2,400-scale floodplain delineation maps, on-line queries, environmental assessments, acreage reports, and data transfers to other County agencies.
During a recent series of natural disasters, Americans have witnessed the power of nature to quickly obliterate our carefully constructed human habitats. When an emergency occurs, homes, powerlines, roads, urban forest areas, and industrial sites undergo immediate, drastic changes in condition and functionality. At these times, even the most carefully prepared GIS portrays past history, not current reality. This presentation focuses on the ability of GPS/GIS technology to rapidly create up-to-the-minute, detailed GIS map coverages. Governmental agencies and private industries are adopting GPS/GIS methodologies for all phases emergency preparation, mitigation, planning, and response. Case studies of disaster assessments using GeoLink GPS/GIS mapping techniques during the recent floods and hurricanes will be described as well as the process of GPS-based data gathering and GIS translation.
In an effort to quickly and accurately assess housing damage in south Florida following the destructive impact of Hurricane Andrew, staff in what is now the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) modeling Branch, (housed in the Applications Development Division of the Information Technology Services Directorate) developed a hurricane damage prediction model. Prior to the development of the Consequences Assessment Tool Set, FEMA management and staff typically obtained hurricane damage assessment information from state and local governments. This predictive model, an adaptation of a nuclear attack simulation model previously developed at FEMA, compared Hurricane Andrew's impact to the detonation of 16 100-kiloton nuclear bombs, estimating housing damage with greater accuracy than other predictions. Since Hurricane Andrew, the model has been used as an important damage assessment tool for every hurricane since Hurricane Emily in 1993. In addition, the model was used to predict damage from a fictitious storm, Hurricane Paul, created for a preparedness study in New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Paul was simulated to match the magnitude of the famous 1938 New England Hurricane and to follow the same track as the 1901 hurricane that impacted New York City. The purpose of this paper is fourfold: 1) to describe how the model was used to predict damages from this imaginary storm; 2) to detail these predicted damages using ArcView 2 and ArcInfo Grid; 3) to discuss informal planning options and recommendations based on the model's damage predictions; and 4) to discuss possible future model applications and uses.