For years, I had heard in very general ways about John Snow's contributions to what we know today as GIS analysis and epidemiology, but only recently have I gotten the whole story and more. The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, is an historical account of the mid-19th century outbreak of cholera in Victorian London. It reads like a mystery novel with historical insights along the way, complete with a description of the V. Cholera bacterium strain, the impact of sanitary conditions, and an interesting (but disgusting) list of workers and their milieu. 
From the death of a small child, the narrative follows the social-political events and conditions that exacerbated the spread of the disease and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. But more importantly, the story is really about the unlikely pairing of John Snow (a doctor) and Reverend Henry Whitehead in pursuit of the origin and eventual containment of the disease through (not a surprise here) mapping the outbreak. The two, who began in opposition in beliefs of how cholera spreadin the beginning, tracked not only the cases (fatal and non-fatal) but also the social interaction of the people in the Soho district in the 1850s - where they traveled to get potable water, why some survived in the midst of the outbreak, who delivered water to whom, and why some fatalities occurred outside Soho. What might receive a short paragraph or less in a history book is fully played out with drama and passion for public health. 
We should remind ourselves that public safety is not just the immediate need for emergency response that is measured by minutes and seconds. Knowledge of the event (cause, threat, damage, progression) determines the response.  Our view of a multi-disciplined public safety and homeland security strategy should include LOCAL public health organizations along with local fire, police, and emergency management agencies. 
It was only the street level knowledge of John Snow and Whitehead and the resulting mapping of the social interactions of neighbors amidst the terrifying outbreak in a congested area that convinced others about the nature of the disease and its solution. With the today's public agencies using GIS and exploring crowd sourcing for local data, this story resonates about the inclusive nature of the meaning of public safety (and those who provide for the common good) and the importance of objective analysis of both spatial and non-spatial data for sound decision making. 
One final note: If you do get a copy of The Ghost Map, keep a glass of fresh water next to you if only for a reminder of how fragile public health can be.

Most public safety response agencies normally record training activities to use for reviews of training evolutions. Law enforcement agencies often, if not always, routine record traffic stops for safety reasons. In previous blogs, I've discussed the benefits of public safety agencies monitoring and using social media-fed information to assist responders with incident intelligence in advance of arrival. All pretty good stuff that can be geo-linked with map points for analysis.

However, there are other considerations, especially for public safety personnel who may be wearing digital cameras or recording events. For a start, the basic questions include ownership, storage, and maintenance of the recorded information. If a public safety official (for example, fire fighter or police officer) is wearing a camera at an event (emergency incident or training evolution), is the recording public record? Who owns the recording - the department, the individual, the jurisdiction, the identifiable citizen in the recording?

How is the recorded information stored and in what format? In the case of existing recording tape or film, there are certain environmental conditions that must be maintained. Likewise, for digital media, similar cautions should be observed (temperature, humidity, magnetic sources). Also, consider the formats - not for the present but for the future. Did we really think that VHS tape would ever be eclipsed by a digital card? Or that the WordPerfect file format would be the BFF (best format forever)? Have you tried opening a copy of an 25-year old document created and saved on a now "ancient" (and long ago discarded) Radio Shack or Osborne computer?

And finally (at least in this list) is security. Where should these files be stored, referenced, and retrieved? Because of the manner and ease in which digital files can modified and re-saved, which version is the correct one? How should access be made available?

In addition to what we consider "recorded" media are maps and data. Can you (without the help of your GIS guru) make the required conversions to open a 12-year old ArcView 3.x map file in ArcGIS 10? Just a few things to think about.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the US Department of Labor released is competency model for Geospatial Technology, the result of a two year effort. According to Secretary of Labor Solis, "The geospatial model serves as a guide for those who want to both find a good job and map out a long-term career pathway in any of several geospatial technology fields including surveying and mapping, computer science and information science." But also may begin shaping the future of the GIS profession. When you look at the model (and I know you will), I think you'll agree that it appears to be more complex and specific than it is. The multi-tiered illustration is interactive and reveals mush of the intent as you mover your mouse over the various sections. Just look at it for what it is: a guide for career guidance, curriculum development, professional development, and certification development. It is not one of those in itself, but offers sideboards as to the direction in which the geospatial profession should be moving.  Briefly, the new model groups competencies into 9 tiers including foundational competencies (personal effectiveness, academic knowledge, and workplace competencies), core geospatial competencies and competencies for three geospatial sectors: positioning and data acquisition, analysis and modeling, and software and application development. Tiers 6 through 9 represent the specialization that occurs within specific occupations within the geospatial industry.  Let's not jump to conclusions about its immediate or intrinsic value but assess this model with a cautious eye to the future of the GIS profession. This model will hopefully provide additional guidance for the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's GIS standards, the National Fire Protection Association's Committee on Data Exchange for the Fire Service (search for DAT-AAA for a list of committee members), and the several other organizations considering standards for their individual disciplines. 

Attending my 10th (or is it 11th?) ESRI User Conference in San Diego CA this last week, I noticed a definite shift in focus. At one time, public safety discussions tended to circle around whose got the biggest, fastest, latest software/hardware. Of course, that comparison and gadget envy will not go away, but the subjects (and tone) of current discussions indicate a clear message.

Message 1. We must engage in long term considerations for resource sharing among various public safety and GIS professionals, and private entities. The key word is AMONG - not the traditional BETWEEN. Everyone is talking. These multi-jurisdictional/multi-discipline/public-private sector discussions include the sharing of data, resources, and information. Assuming this re-focus may be primarily driven by evaporating funding, I have a few concerns. I've seen past organizational behaviors that tell me we may have little time to act to make the most of the opportunities before us. In past times of economic stress, top level agencies agree to play nice and share when funds dictate. The time spent in adjusting rules and agreements to eventually cooperate served only to strengthen functional silos when funding began to flow once again. However, this time it seems different.

I am meeting more and more dedicated personnel working to accomplish much with little are turning to each other for mutual assistance to complete a comprehensive public safety mission (not just those of their respective agencies). This is an excellent sign for the future.

Message 2. Amid the realities of increasing threats and public safety responsibilities, the concerns of local control and need to share additional and perhaps previously unobtainable data are driving key decisions. Since emergencies occur locally, the local first responders have the best opportunities to collect, maintain, and use local data. States and federal agencies are not able to do what local agencies can do. In the event of a large scale event, it's the accretion of data from the local agencies that creates the common operating picture. And reality check: data is not not the only thing to be shared - place names particular to jurisdictions, common routers, mobile GPS devices, mobile resources, and multiple resources for gathering data are being discussed.

Message 3. I believe that public safety leaders are recognizing that the long term investment in acquiring and/or developing shared resource of skilled, creative GIS professionals will secure the sustainability of their organizations' missions and commitment to their citizens.

The AH-HA moment: With each encounter, whether a one-to-one or in addressing large groups, I sense many public safety folks are realizing that the "map" is a not the point of GIS. They are seeing value of GIS is the capability to analyze and enhance the visualization of the data, often accompanied by the slap-to-the-head surprise that visualization can be way more than a pie chart or line graph.

We used to be afraid of one Big Brother. Comedian Robin Williams observes (in his "Weapons of Self Destruction" show) that we actually should be afraid of "lots of little snitches" - those folks with cell phone cameras always on the look out for something to post on You-Tube, Flickr, or other websites for the world to see.    
When I was the NFPA staff liaison to the NFPA Fire Service Training Committee, a committee member suggested that I search You-Tube for references to NFPA 1403 the national standard for live fire training. OMG (as Tweeters exclaim) - what I saw! Safety measures not even considered in video after video captured by (evidently) participating fire fighters and the public they serve! Shouldn't these examples hint as to the power of social media, particularly crowd sourcing for information? It sure gave the committee some insight for improving the standards. 

Yet, it was not that long ago that a large federal agency rejected the use of social media - "we're not going there." - period.  Thankfully, over the last couple of years, many public agencies have begun to track social media in regards to emergency incidents and intelligence. Local law enforcement agencies are monitoring social media for intimations of crime as well as the immediate posting of feeds during the initial stages of emergencies. Messages from neighbors about gang activities, tweets from occupants inside a building about hostage situations, and photos of accident scenes can all be captured and distributed to responding units adding to their "common operating picture" information. 

The information from crowd sourcing/social media can be incorporated into GIS maps to provide increased situational awareness essential to first responders as well as mitigating potentially hazardous situations. Want to see an example? Check out this website as an example of a growing number of portals for citizen involvement in improving community life and safety. 

In a recent article in my Sunday morning quiet time, Boston Globe writer Robert David Sullivan highlighted a unique use of GIS density mapping with some interesting implications for public safety planning and operations. 

Oakland CA-based Eric Fischer mined location data from a couple of popular photo websites. From the data gleaned from geo-referenced photos posted by tourists and residents, he built a density map of where the photos were taken. In the map of Boston, the density of tourist photo locations practically outlined the Boston Common and points around the Prudential Center, the State House and the Quincy Market area - all the typical scenes often associated with Boston (or at least, the Cheers TV show). 

Implications for public safety is the congregation of tourists in certain areas that may not be intuitively known and also the number of photos taken in creation areas. For more insight as to why this info might be valuable, see my previous blog on the public use of smart phones and digital photography. 

In addition, Fischer's website features photo point density maps of other cities around the world  - perhaps even your own city. 

For emergency first responders starting up a GIS program, one frequently asked question is "Where do I find data?" Of course, there's a lot of spatial data to be found on your state's GIS website, other government websites (like USGS), and don't forget those CDs that came with your software. One of the critical infrastructure datasets is transportation for planning and responding to emergencies involving railroads, ports, bridges, airports, and freight terminals - all of which might be the site of your next hazardous materials incident. 
If you're a fire or police department looking for transportation data for emergency planning and response, I suggest a likely source is the US Department of Transportation's National Transportation Atlas Database for 2009. Updated files for 2010 are coming soon either on the web of DVDs. 
On this site, you'll find several specific databases dealing with transportation, such as hazardous materials routes data from the state departments of transportation, railway networks, navigable waterways, and other data, some gathered from other sources like the Census Bureau. But the value is that a lot of what you might need for transportation emergencies is right here, free, and formatted for use. The downloadable files contain shapefiles, index files, dBASE attribute data, spatial indices, and metadata, all in the familiar ESRI formats.  

With so many clean up efforts are underway in the Gulf of Mexico, there's no way that popular media can provide a summary meaningful enough to provide solid information for those who just want to know what the accretion of the many large and small efforts amount to.  But thanks to Florida's Virtual USA-like application called GATOR, recovery efforts are tracked and updated with a scaleable map covering the extent of the spill and text boxes of the status of each effort on and off shore. Best yet, this information is available to everyone. Talk about transparency!


The information, based on the concept of Virtual USA (vUSA) is updated on the fly from the Gulf. With the possibility of a tropical turning north over the next several days (and more likely in the coming months) and heading for the Gulf states, this updated information will become even more critical for emergency managers and recovery workers.  The vUSA platform, a White House/DHS priority) is being used in other states, like Virginia's VIPER and Virtual Alabama, and is being tested in several other states. 

Last week, National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation hosted two user group meetings focused on public safety GIS applications. The two latest User Group meetings were held in Toledo, Ohio, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. These sessions were more like mini-conferences than "just another meeting" and were free all attendees.

Following the successful model of the six Fire Service User Group meetings held in 2009, the Foundation relied on local leadership teams to invite regional GIS/public safety users to fill the meeting rooms. For two days in each location, attendees viewed presentations of successful GIS applications for law enforcement, emergency management, and fire service delivery. In addition to the presentations on successful GIS projects, four training sessions were offered including a hands on demonstration of ESRI's ArcGIS 10 and how to program Adobe's Flex viewer to customize GIS maps for online use.

If you missed the opportunity to attend these sessions, PDF versions of the presentations will soon be available on the Foundation's website.

Coming soon: Dates and places for the 2010 Fire Service User Group meetings will be announced in the next few weeks and will be posted here as soon as the information is available.