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.
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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.
