Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for Public Safety Applications NC EMToday 2000

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Geographical Information Systems (GIS)for Public
Safety ApplicationsNC EMToday 2000

• Pressley Lorbacher
• William E. Ott
• Scott Roberts
• Mike Smith
• Joseph Zalkin

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What is GIS?

• Geographic Information Systems
• In the strictest sense, a GIS is a computer
  system capable of assembling, storing,
  manipulating, and displaying geographically
  referenced information , i.e. data identified
  according to their locations. Practitioners also
  regard the total GIS as including operating
  personnel and the data that go into the system.

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How does GIS work?

• A GIS, which can use information from many
  different sources, in many different forms can
  help with such analyses. The primary requirement
  for the source data is that the locations for the
  variables are known.
• Location may be annotated by x,y, and z
  coordinates of longitude, latitude, and
  elevation, or by such systems as ZIP codes or
  highway mile markers. Any variable that can be
  located spatially can be fed into a GIS.
• Several computer data bases that can be directly
  entered into a GIS are being produced by Federal
  agencies and private firms. Different kinds of
  data in map form can be entered into a GIS.

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How does GIS work?

• A GIS can also convert existing digital
  information, which may not yet be in map form,
  into forms it can recognize and use. For example,
  digital satellite images can be analyzed to
  produce a map like layer of digital information
  about vegetative covers.
• Likewise, census or hydrologic tabular data can
  be converted to map-like form, serving as layers
  of thematic information in a GIS.

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GIS Buzzwords

• Shape Files
• Layers
• Geocoding
• Networking

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Data Capture How can a GIS use the information
in a map?

• If the data to be used are not already in digital
  form, that is, in a form the computer can
  recognize, various techniques can capture the
  information.
• Maps can be digitized, or hand-traced with at
  computer mouse, to collect the coordinates of
  features.
• Electronic scanning devices will also convert map
  lines and points to digits.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) surveying and
  input from stationary receivers or mobile AVL
  systems.
• Data capture - putting the information into the
  system - is the time-consuming component of GIS
  work. Identities of the objects on the map must
  be specified, as well as their spatial
  relationships.

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Data Systems

• GIS data can be accumulated in a variety of ways,
  including
• GPS (most accurate method of exact incident
  location)
• AVL - GPS
• Manual address keying into a data system which is
  then geocoded to the GIS system

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Projection and Registration

• A property ownership map might be at a different
  scale from a soils map. Map information in a GIS
  must be manipulated so that it registers, or
  fits, with information gathered from other maps.
  Before the digital data can be analyzed, they may
  have to undergo other manipulations - projection
  conversions, for example - that integrate them
  into a GIS.
• Projection is a fundamental component of
  mapmaking. A projection is a mathematical means
  of transferring information from the Earth's
  three-dimensional curved surface to a
  two-dimensional medium - paper or a computer
  screen. Different projections are used for
  different types of maps because each projection
  is particularly appropriate to certain uses. For
  example, a projection that accurately represents
  the shapes of the continents will distort their
  relative sizes.

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Projection Example
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Data Modeling

• It is difficult to relate flood plain maps to
  rainfall amounts recorded at different points
  such as airports, television stations, and high
  schools.
• GIS, however, can be used to depict two- and
  three-dimensional characteristics of the Earth's
  surface, subsurface, and atmosphere from
  information points.

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Info Retrieval, Modeling, and Networking

• What do you know about the swampy area at the end
  of your street? With a GIS you can "point" at a
  location, object, or area on the screen and
  retrieve recorded information about it from
  off-screen files.
• Using scanned aerial photographs as a visual
  guide, you can ask a GIS about the geology or
  hydrology of the area or even about how close a
  swamp is to end of a street. This kind of
  analytic function allows you to draw conclusions
  about the swamp's environmental sensitivity.
• In the past 35 years, were there any gas stations
  or factories operating next to the swamp? Any
  within two miles and uphill from the swamp? A GIS
  can recognize and analyze the spatial
  relationships among mapped phenomena. Conditions
  of adjacency (what is next to what), containment
  (what is enclosed by what), and proximity (how
  close something is to something else ) can be
  determined with a GIS.

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Info Retrieval, Modeling, and Networking

• If all the factories near a wetland were
  accidentally to release chemicals into the river
  at the same time, how long would it take for a
  damaging amount of pollutant to enter the wetland
  reserve?
• A GIS can simulate the route of materials along a
  linear network. It is possible to assign values
  such as direction and speed to the digital stream
  and "move" the contaminants through the stream
  system.
• This same networking process can be applied to
  public safety response data, thus allowing best
  route type planning to be done for given areas,
  units, times of day, days of week, or any
  combination of these

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Data Output Information

• A critical component of a GIS is its ability to
  produce graphics on the screen or on paper that
  convey the results of analysis to the people who
  make decisions about resources.
• Wall maps, mapbooks, and other graphics can be
  generated, allowing the viewer to visualize and
  thereby understand the results of analyses or
  simulations of potential events.

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Application of GIS

• Mapmaking (cartography)
• Site Selection (stations, command posts, etc..)
• Emergency Response Planning
• Simulation of environmental effects or impact of
  events (chemical spill, spraying, flooding, etc..)

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Coordinate Systems

• There are many basic coordinate systems familiar
  to students of geometry and trigonometry.
• These systems can represent points in
  two-dimensional or three-dimensional space.
• René Descartes (1596-1650) introduced systems of
  coordinates based on orthogonal (right angle)
  coordinates.
• These two and three-dimensional systems used in
  analytic geometry are often referred to as
  Cartesian systems.
• Similar systems based on angles from baselines
  are often referred to as polar systems.

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Coordinate Systems

• The most commonly used coordinate system today is
  the latitude, longitude, and height system.
• The Prime Meridian and the Equator are the
  reference planes used to define latitude and
  longitude.
• The geodetic latitude (there are many other
  defined latitudes) of a point is the angle from
  the equatorial plane to the vertical direction of
  a line normal to the reference ellipsoid.
• The geodetic longitude of a point is the angle
  between a reference plane and a plane passing
  through the point, both planes being
  perpendicular to the equatorial plane.
• The geodetic height at a point is the distance
  from the reference ellipsoid to the point in a
  direction normal to the ellipsoid.

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Coordinate SystemsUniversal Transverse Mercator
- UTM

• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates
  define two dimensional, horizontal, positions.
• UTM zone numbers designate 6 degree longitudinal
  strips extending from 80 degrees South latitude
  to 84 degrees North latitude.
• UTM zone characters designate 8 degree zones
  extending north and south from the equator.
• There are special UTM zones between 0 degrees and
  36 degrees longitude above 72 degrees latitude
  and a special zone 32 between 56 degrees and 64
  degrees north latitude.
• Each zone has a central meridian. Zone 14, for
  example, has a central meridian of 99 degrees
  west longitude. The zone extends from 96 to 102
  degrees west longitude.
• Eastings are measured from the central meridian
  (with a 500km false easting to insure positive
  coordinates).
• Northings are measured from the equator (with a
  10,000km false northing for positions south of
  the equator).

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Geodetic Datums

• Referencing geodetic coordinates to the wrong
  datum can result in position errors of hundreds
  of meters. Different nations and agencies use
  different datums as the basis for coordinate
  systems used to identify positions in geographic
  information systems, precise positioning systems,
  and navigation systems. The diversity of datums
  in use today and the technological advancements
  that have made possible global positioning
  measurements with sub-meter accuracies requires
  careful datum selection and careful conversion
  between coordinates in different datums.

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Earth Surfaces
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GIS Software

• ESRI ArcInfo / ArcView plus many add in modules
• ESRI is the market leader and gold standard
  within the government and engineering communities
• Other vendors offer competing products, which
  combined make up less than 15 of the GIS market

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GIS Software Costs

• 8,000 and up for full GIS system
• 1,000 and up for GIS modeling only. This is
  what the typical public safety agency would need
  if their local government has a GIS system that
  can feed map data to analyze with response data

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GIS Hardware Costs

• Full blown GIS will need a server, Oracle, SQL
  Server, DB2, etc.. as a repository. This easily
  can be 15,000 to 20,000.
• GIS and GIS modeling will need workstations,
  faster is better, LARGE screen monitors. This
  would run in the 1,500 to 4,000 range.
• Color printers / plotters for maps. Pricing from
  200 up to tens of thousands of dollars.

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Public Safety Specifics for GIS

• Plotting and analyzing call patterns
• Plotting and analyzing best response patterns (no
  more pins in maps)
• Determining positioning for units
• Modeling of hazard areas..ties to a reverse 911
  system to allow for automated evacuation
  notification in emergencies, etc..

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Data Drives Decisions

• Garbage In - Garbage Out
• A Thing Seldom Looked for is Seldom Found
• New Locations
• Historical Data
• Pre-Planning

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Public Perception

• Response Time Saves Lives
• Where
• When
• How Long
• Multi-unit Response Configurations

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Planning

• PERMITS for FACILITIES
• Special Services Locations
• Dialysis
• Womans Clinics
• Free Standing Care Facilities (Cath Labs)

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Durham North Carolina

• County covers 299 Square Miles
• City covers 95 Square Miles
• Total County Population 235,000
• Total City Population - 178,000

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EMS Responses by Unit1999

• City Units
• Medic 1 - 3,067
• Medic 2 - 2,530
• Medic 3 - 3,755
• Medic 5 - 4,057
• Medic 6 - 3,759
• Medic 8 - 2,332

• County Units
• Medic 30 - 198
• Medic 40 - 675
• Medic 50 - 504
• Medic 60 1,305
• Medic 70 592

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Calls by Area

• City North - 9,217
• City South - 12,133

• County North - 1,247
• County South - 1,173

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GIS Mapping

• TB Cases 1999 (19)
• Stabbings - Year to Date 2000 (60)
• Gunshots - Year to Date 2000 (130)
• Homicides - Year to Date 2000 (25)

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Geographical Information Systems

• Using GIS to Plan and Make Changes in the way EMS
  Serves Their Local Community
• Durham County EMS System
• An Actual Project

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Real Life GIS

• Defining Change

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• How Does the Public Evaluate the EMS System?
• How Do Public Officials Evaluate the EMS System?

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• As an EMS Administrator How Do You Evaluate Your
  System?

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• Response Times!
• Response Times!
• Response Times!

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Measuring Data for Use in Geographical
Information Systems

• Data Has to Be Consistent.
• Data Has to Be Accurate.
• You Have to Know What You Want to Measure.

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• Garbage In Garbage Out

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Defining Change

• What Problems Did We Face in Our System?
• Why?
• What Should We Do to Fix These Problems?

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Durham County EMS

• 27,000 Annual Call Volume
• 6 Paramedic Units in the City
• 6 Paramedic Units in the County Fire Stations
  From 7 A.M. To 7 P.M.
• City Fire Operates 21 First Responder Units From
  12 Stations

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• Measured All Emergency Responses Where Patient
  Contact Was Encountered in a Three Month Period
  of Time. (5123)
• Recorded Response Times in Excess of 8 Minutes
  From Dispatch to Arrival in the Same Given Period
  of Time. (109)

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• What Does This Data Tell You As an Administrator?

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• A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
• or Approximately
• 600,000 !

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• Now As Administrators What Does
• This Picture Tell You?

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What did the picture identify?

• Definite Need for Southwest Paramedic Coverage.
• Inner City Call Volume Was Greater Than the
  Number of Available Paramedic Units.
• Calls in the County That Were in Excess of 8
  Minute Response Times Were at Night When the
  Paramedic Coverage Was Discontinued.

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What did we do ?

• Placed a Paramedic Unit in the Southwest Portion
  of Durham Utilizing a City Fire Station.
• Expanded Paramedic Coverage in the County Fire
  Stations to 24 Hours.

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• Implemented Three (3) City Fire Department
  EMT-Intermediate Transport Units in the Inner
  City Districts to Back-up the Inner City
  Paramedic Units When They Are Occupied.
• County EMS Contracted With Parkwood EMS to
  Provide Paramedic Service in the South /
  Southwest Area of Durham With 2 Paramedic Units.

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Questions CommentsPlease see the GIS mapping
displays around the room
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Thank You!