Issue link: https://resources.esri.ca/i/778146
32 I FrontLine Security I Volume 7, Issue 2 BLDG: BLDGPREPLAN: EM COP Dynamic feed from social media can be integrated into the EM COP to enhance situational awareness of an emergency. Users can query numerous types of data, including municipal floor plans and orthoimagery. EOC staff can rapidly query and analyze infor- mation, including the types of infrastructure in the vicinity of an incident, through the EM COP. When a flood, tornado, chemical spill or other disaster occurs, it's crucial to have a comprehensive view of where the incident happens and how it unfolds in order to deliver effective emergency services. In Ontario, the City of Kingston has turned to modern Web mapping technol- ogy to enable real-time situational aware- ness and improve their ability to respond to emergencies. Kingston's Emergency Oper- ations Centre (EOC) is based at the city's fire and rescue headquarters. Since the centre was established 10 years ago, they have used paper maps, updated twice yearly, to assess incidents and plan emer- gency response. Compiling data quickly to make decisions was a challenge as they needed to gather information from numer- ous people and agencies by phone, email and online research. To increase efficiency, the EOC turned to the city's Information Technology (IT) department to create a solution for improv- ing their ability to access and share data. The IT department manages all municipal location-based data using a geographic information system (GIS) and produces maps to support planning, engineering, utility management and community services. The GIS serves as the city's core information system, capable of supplying large amounts of relevant and timely geospatial data. "We wanted an efficient solution that would enable us to leverage the data and analytical tools in the GIS," explains John Cross, Manager at the Office of Emer- gency Management. In response, the GIS team developed a prototype of an Emergency Management Common Operational Picture (EM COP) application – a dynamic Web-based map- ping application that allows users to visualize, analyze and query relevant infor- mation. The EM COP application pulls data from the city's GIS, including fire and police services, roads, buildings, utility network and population demographics. "Using Web mapping made sense as we already had a shared GIS environment," remarked Philip Healey, Kingston's GIS supervisor. "The EM COP application was easy to configure, deploy and put in front of our stakeholders." PROVIDING ROLE-BASED ACCESS TO DATA During emergencies, the Kingston EOC is managed by a municipal control group that includes the mayor, chief administrative officer, fire chief, police chief, other senior officials and subject matter experts. The GIS team is deployed to provide round- the-clock mapping and analysis support. SEEING THE BIG PICTURE ENHANCING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS FOR INTELLIGENT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT by Pierre Bilodeau