Case Studies

Challenge In the event of an emergency or crisis situation, CEMA is responsible for facilitating the coordinated response of multiple agencies and external partners. During a large-scale crisis, CEMA receives data from many partners in various formats that must be quickly integrated to produce actionable intelligence. Previously, CEMA would submit a request for GIS maps and The City's geomatics team would source, print and deliver maps to the agency. The organization would also track down information from different sources including census data, data related to infrastructure and transportation and real-time calls from 911 and 311 dispatch centres. Securing this information could take up to 48 hours, at which point, an incident could have changed significantly. As CEMA works with over 30 partnering organizations including fire, police and emergency medical services (EMS), the organiza- tion needed to find a more effective way to coordinate emergency response. They required a shared operational view of events so that each stakeholder could quickly access the real-time data needed to take meaningful action. However, with many sensitive data layers maintained separately by partnering organizations, CEMA required a technology platform that could promote collaboration while ensuring the protection of confidential information. Geospatial Emergency Management (GEM) system promotes multi-agency collaboration and access to real-time data during large scale emergency events To ensure the safety of over 1 million residents, in 2011, the City of Calgary's Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) implemented a new Comprehensive Emergency Management Model. To support this model, a state-of-the-art operations centre and Geospatial Emergency Management (GEM) system were built. Using Esri Canada's EM-COP solution, the GEM system provides situational awareness by making volumes of real-time data readily available for multiple emergency management agencies. Since implemented, the GEM system has enabled many partnering organizations to effectively collaborate and eliminate costly time delays when responding to an emergency event, such as the severe flood that struck the city in June 2013. 1 Esri Canada | Calgary's Emergency Management Agency protects growing population through a Common Operating Picture (COP) "The EM-COP meets our needs for a flexible platform from a Canadian provider. Implementing the solution has essentially led to a cultural shift within our organization that now centres around data sharing. The ability to access and share data across business units without submitting a request empowers us to act immediately and no longer be impeded by costly time delays." Jason Cameron Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA)

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