Geo Tools for First Responders

R i c h a r d W e l t y

1Wednesday, March 27, 13

Some Kinds of Geo Data

Accurate GPS Maps

Hydrant locations and capacities

Building Footprints

Chemicals at potential HazMat sites

2Wednesday, March 27, 13

How to Deliver

The data is often already in existence

Usually controlled by County GIS departments

Often unwieldy in the field, or unavailable

One Capital District FD has used rolodexes for hydrant data in the trucks

3Wednesday, March 27, 13

Tablets Change THings

4Wednesday, March 27, 13

OpenStreetMap Changes Things

Project to build a free digital map of the world

Free in a difference sense than Google Maps or other online maps

A “Wiki” project, crowdsourcing

5Wednesday, March 27, 13

Hydrant Map

6Wednesday, March 27, 13

Building Footprints

7Wednesday, March 27, 13

Tablet Features

Good GPS Maps & Software

Lots of memory for data

Can preload data - don’t require Cell Service

Affordable commodities

8Wednesday, March 27, 13

GPS Issues

First Responders don’t necessarily trust GPS

Anecdotes about bad addressing

Obvious problems with the street grid

Updates in commercial GPS not timely

9Wednesday, March 27, 13

TigerTIGER is a Census Bureau map database

Public Domain

All digital maps of the US started with a copy of TIGER (both online and GPS maps)

TIGER is erratic, better some places than others

OpenStreetMap in the US started with a copy of TIGER from 2005

10Wednesday, March 27, 13

Typical Tiger Issues

Incorrect Road Names

Bad Topology - “Not Hooked Up Right”

Paper Streets

Missing one way & access restriction information

Out of date, missing new developments

11Wednesday, March 27, 13

Street Grids in Old Cities

Cortland Street Not Cortland Street

12Wednesday, March 27, 13

We can do better

GPS maps don’t have to suck

Enhanced 911 data for street addresses

OSM crowd sourcing for completeness, currency, TIGER fix up

Give control to the users of the data

13Wednesday, March 27, 13

Pilot Project

Proposed Pilot - City Department or group of Volunteer Fire Departments

Enhanced 911 address data owner - County GIS Department, other government agency

Potential for grants to help fund pilot

14Wednesday, March 27, 13

Proposed Delivery

Android Tablet (e.g., Nexus 7 or Nexus 10)

WiFi only (no cell)

32G

OsmAnd GPS software

Data in OpenStreetMap

15Wednesday, March 27, 13

Advantages of Approach

Commodity Hardware (32G Nexus 7 is $250 locally)

OsmAnd is open source, already supports most needs

OpenStreetMap provides Database

No major IT infrastructure requirements

16Wednesday, March 27, 13

Department Involvement

Need a desktop or laptop to build maps. Mac vs PC not important

Need to train a few department staff in the maintenance of the system

Figure out who the map geeks are and train them

17Wednesday, March 27, 13

Measure Success

Response times

How good is current response time data?

How much is enough to be valid

Perception of users - importance vs. statistical measures

18Wednesday, March 27, 13

Open Issues

Need to complete TIGER review in pilot area

Need to import Enhanced 911 data into OSM

Import Building footprints where available

Need to improve US address handling in OsmAnd

19Wednesday, March 27, 13

Addresses & Routes

Need to review a large enough group of randomly selected addresses for accuracy

Before pilot deployment, spend time rerunning prior calls to see what routes are selected and whether the GPS really gets us to the right place

20Wednesday, March 27, 13

Policy, Vehicle Classes

Policy on overriding One Way, Turn Restrictions

Do we need different maps for different classes of emergency vehicles?

21Wednesday, March 27, 13

Hydrant Enhancements

Include capacity (main diameter or AWWA classification) in database

Display hydrants in different colors depending on capacity, e.g. green for 12” main, blue for AWWA class AA

Display will be visible in GPS software to Firefighters as they travel to scene

22Wednesday, March 27, 13

Data Integrity

Vandalism & mistakes (happens with wiki projects)

Monitor changes to map (Changemonger)

Only extract new GPS maps after validating changes

Not a burden if you just stay on top of things

23Wednesday, March 27, 13

Indemnification

OSM and its volunteers do not have resources to fight a lawsuit

How do we protect them in a modern, lawsuit prone environment?

24Wednesday, March 27, 13