It's a typical late afternoon at the fire station (or police precinct, etc.). The crew is discussing a training session recently completed online via the departmental intranet. Some move off to do a little more Internet research for their online degree course; a few cruise a list of offerings on their smart phones to catch the end of a television program missed while on call or check the latest comic routine on YouTube. Each has, in someway in the past hour, used communications technology for learning, entertainment or social interaction over Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, or Twitter. (Email is so last year!) Sound familiar? It may depend on your age group. But that's not the point.
The point is evidenced in the "typical" alarm. A fire in an apartment complex is received by dispatch via cell phone. Your company is dispatched. The location is near the edge of your district and the prescribed route in the map book will take about 4-5 minutes to respond. Another company is dispatched as you board the engine and the doors open as second and third calls are received. Another typical day.
What makes this call different is that while it is fairly common for fire personnel to use common communications tools and networks, the value of these same tools used by the "public" is hardly acknowledged by many departments. Some departments even reject it.
When your company arrives, the second company is just rounding the corner. You radio your visual assessment of the situation. Dispatch responds with additional information received from subsequent callers. Something about a riot of residents attacking someone they believe started the fire. Police are on the way.
And so it goes, except for the fact that in the time it took you to respond, people who used their cell phones to send the alarm have already taken still photos and video on their cell phones and sent to their network of friends who forwarded to their networks who did the same, including the images of your company arriving with a date and time stamp included. Now, in the time it took you to respond, an estimated tens of thousands of people around the world now have more information than you. In fact, one or two are streaming the video to the local television station. Smile, your on the air. And you're in charge.
Mobile GIS capabilities contribute to your having the information that you need NOW. Improved response can be automatically generated by spatially analyzing the current status of companies, traffic congestion, restrictions, and the like. Dispatch could be monitoring social networks or the local television stations and feeding you the information en route. Having street plans, locations of sewer drains, fire department connections, hydrants (with flow data), hazardous materials and environments, building and occupant data, streaming video of the incident scene, and other intelligence is situational awareness. Situational awareness is the issue and knowing real time information can save lives.
In truth, more and more departments and agencies are beginning to use social networks and GIS technology to improve situational awareness. If yours is one, good job! If not, find more about the i mpact of social networking and GIS solutions for public safety today.
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The point is evidenced in the "typical" alarm. A fire in an apartment complex is received by dispatch via cell phone. Your company is dispatched. The location is near the edge of your district and the prescribed route in the map book will take about 4-5 minutes to respond. Another company is dispatched as you board the engine and the doors open as second and third calls are received. Another typical day.
What makes this call different is that while it is fairly common for fire personnel to use common communications tools and networks, the value of these same tools used by the "public" is hardly acknowledged by many departments. Some departments even reject it.
When your company arrives, the second company is just rounding the corner. You radio your visual assessment of the situation. Dispatch responds with additional information received from subsequent callers. Something about a riot of residents attacking someone they believe started the fire. Police are on the way.
And so it goes, except for the fact that in the time it took you to respond, people who used their cell phones to send the alarm have already taken still photos and video on their cell phones and sent to their network of friends who forwarded to their networks who did the same, including the images of your company arriving with a date and time stamp included. Now, in the time it took you to respond, an estimated tens of thousands of people around the world now have more information than you. In fact, one or two are streaming the video to the local television station. Smile, your on the air. And you're in charge.
Mobile GIS capabilities contribute to your having the information that you need NOW. Improved response can be automatically generated by spatially analyzing the current status of companies, traffic congestion, restrictions, and the like. Dispatch could be monitoring social networks or the local television stations and feeding you the information en route. Having street plans, locations of sewer drains, fire department connections, hydrants (with flow data), hazardous materials and environments, building and occupant data, streaming video of the incident scene, and other intelligence is situational awareness. Situational awareness is the issue and knowing real time information can save lives.
In truth, more and more departments and agencies are beginning to use social networks and GIS technology to improve situational awareness. If yours is one, good job! If not, find more about the i mpact of social networking and GIS solutions for public safety today.
