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Geodata conferencing to aid emergency response efforts
The rumbling starts... imperceptibly at first... but it quickly builds to a jarring crescendo as the ground shakes, the dishes rattle, and your heart pounds–earthquake!
With any luck, this seismic shift won't have caused any damage, but the Quebec Ministry of Public Security doesn't want to take any chances. That's why it's cooperating with Consultants TGIS Inc. of Chelsea, Quebec. Together, they're creating a map-based conferencing system that will enable the Ministry to better manage earthquakes and other potential disasters, such as forest fires or floods.
Virtual emergency response centres
In emergencies, no one can afford miscommunication. In our earthquake example, seismologists could use the conferencing system to produce a map based on sensor readings that model the earth's movement. They could then discuss the map with various emergency response teams over the Internet. In turn, the response teams could layer on maps of towns, roadways, or bridges to focus relief efforts. And by using their electronic pointers to highlight specific locations on the map (for instance, the purple spot in the left hand corner), participants could avoid the potentially harmful confusion that verbal descriptions alone can create. Of course, the technology can be used for many other types of emergencies, such chemical spills, criminal escapes, or tornadoes.
"The system operates like a teleconference," says Mr. Charles Siegel, Project Manager with Consultants TGIS, "except that in addition to hearing the other parties, people will be able to see updates to the map as others make them. During emergencies, officials can assess damages, manage responses, and stay on top of changing conditions from hundreds of miles away. In essence, we're making part of the emergency response centre virtual, enabling experts close to the incident to contribute information to the map and to interpret that information."
People in different locations will be able to view the same Internet map and point to map features with electronic pointers. They'll also be able to zoom in, zoom out, add data, and mark up the maps–just as they would with a conferencing whiteboard. Moreover, everyone else on this geodata conference will see the changes in real time. The maps can combine information from Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) web services with geographic data from the Quebec Ministry of Public Security or other sources, such as the Natural Hazards Information System of Natural Resources Canada.
GeoConnections spurs business growth
Consultants TGIS is not only growing its geomatics software development business, but also helping organizations use geomatics information to make better decisions. And GeoConnections has greatly helped along the way.
"We'd be struggling without GeoConnections," says Mr. Siegel. "Taking software from a prototype to a commercial product is extremely challenging. It takes a lot of development, and I don't think we could do it without GeoConnections' support. They've enabled us to devote two of our principal developers to geodata conferencing. Without GeoConnections, we'd still be shopping a prototype around trying to find funding."
The geodata conferencing project may well be the foot in an extremely large door: applications for this type of real-time map sharing extend far beyond emergency response. By reducing the need to travel, geodata conferencing will help distributed teams work together faster and less expensively. For instance, construction managers will better coordinate large roadway and pipeline projects. Mineral prospectors and land managers will work in the field more efficiently. Regional planners will help speed public-transit development. Even meteorologists will capitalize on geodata conferencing to discuss and update weather forecasts. And the more dispersed or remote the conference locations, the greater the potential savings in time and cost.
Standards underlie success
The geodata conference system relies on taking map data from a variety of CGDI web services and ushering it to the geodata conferencing server. Conference participants don't see the actual data; they see the images that the data produce, a key advantage.
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards have proven instrumental to the geodata conferencing project. "The standards provide us with a whole universe of map information that we can offer in a conference," says Mr. Siegel. "The standards enable us to get at the map data, and to us, that's a major benefit of the CGDI."
Consultants TGIS will complete the web server portion of the geodata conferencing application in spring 2004–good news for the Quebec Ministry of Public Security and ultimately good news for all Canadians.
| GeoConnections is a national partnership initiative, led by Natural Resources Canada, to build the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), and make Canada's geospatial databases, tools, and services readily accessible on-line. |