2024 Proceedings

ALERTCalifornia aims to use lidar and multispectral data to quantify vegetative fuel load and moisture content before wildfires, provide real-time data during wildfires, and image post-fire landscape changes. Remote sensing data is crucial to developing effective wildfire prevention, response, and recovery plans, especially with the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires in California.

How do we shift culture among the fire and emergency services, towards a culture that embraces data and technology? Building trust in data and technology within the fire and emergency services sector is crucial for enhancing operational effectiveness, improving decision-making, and ultimately saving lives. By standardizing data collection, increasing data transparency, implementing enhanced data privacy and security measures, training and education opportunities, and investing in reliable technology that keeps pace with speed of innovation we can foster increase trust – and ultimately adoption and use – of the latest in GIS-based data, analytics, and technology among local first responders nationwide. This session will provide insights on the approaches and capabilities in development as part of National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) launching in 2024 and the latest GIS data and tools recently released by the US Fire Administration.

The location of a crime is a crucial parameter for the police. Visualizing crime scenes on a map can help identify geographical concentrations or patterns. Where were arsons committed in a certain period of time? Where is a local concentration of vehicle thefts? Answers to this kind of questions provides the 'Crime Atlas Austria', a web application with a collection of web maps and cartographic visualizations that display the current crime situation. This tool is designed for over 30,000 police officers and can be used for management, planning, patrols, operations and targeted prevention work.

After the container ship DALI struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on 26 March, the U.S. Coast Guard activated a remote GIS team to respond to the crisis. The USCG team used ArcGIS Online to create custom GIS applications, process and create geospatial data, develop custom mapping solutions, and import data from other federal and local partners to support the disaster response. AGOL was used as a one-stop information hub to coordinate response actions across numerous federal, state, and local agencies to quickly coordinate a “Whole of Government” approach to the crisis. 

The IAFC is developing a GIS-based toolkit to enhance sharing and visualization of specialized resources nationwide by allowing resource managers and users to visualize the location, type, and contacts associated with specialized resources across the country. The IAFC has established a Working Group of Fire Data Analysts (Fire DAWGs) for best practices sharing and problem-solving as well as promoting collaboration through online portals and in-person interactions system developers. The Fire DAWGs focus on enhancing the data analysis capabilities of the analysts.

Chick-fil-A has been working to modernize and streamline its processes surrounding risk related events and disaster response using real time data feeds and a series of ArcGIS Web Applications. This effort brings a wide variety of teams together from all parts of the business to support operators and team members during a disaster event. From awareness around closed stores, to organizing operations around supply chain and facilities, and showing care to our operators and team members come along on the journey to how we get stores back online following an event.