EmerGeo™ to be deployed for Marine Spill Response
Burrard Clean Operations installing EmerGeo in Mobile Operations Centre.
VANCOUVER, B.C., August 25, 2005 – EmerGeo Solutions of Vancouver, B.C. is please to announce that Burrard Clean Operations of Burnaby, British Columbia has selected EmerGeo™ emergency mapping for use in its mobile Operations Centre.
Burrard Clean Operations (BCO) was founded in 1976 by four oil refineries and a pipeline company operating in Burrard Inlet of BC. These companies pooled their resources in order to have a collective capability to respond to spills in the Inlet. BCO’s Geographic Area of Response includes all of BC’s coastal waters and connected common navigable and tidal inland waters.
BCO clientele includes oil and pipeline companies, vessel operators, marine petroleum carriers, smaller oil handling facilities, and other companies that utilize BC’s waterways. Whether a company is large or small, there are always risks associated with transporting and transferring oil. Recognizing these risks, by being a member of BCO, each of these companies is able to obtain on-scene assistance should a spill occur.
EmerGeo will operate on a server located in the mobile Command Centre with wireless communication links to support response personnel at the emergency site. EmerGeo will create shoreline sensitivity and Oil Residency Index maps, display resource information and give decision-makers operational planning tools to support response and recovery activities.
Government, industry and BCO recognize that, in spite of all efforts, spills are inevitable. In order to minimize exposure to spills, industry implements best practices, wherever and whenever possible. An integral part of this endeavour is to have a professionally-trained and well equipped response organization identified as part of your contingency plan. In British Columbia, this organization is BCO.
EmerGeo Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services and fully integrated situation awareness technology solutions to help manage risk in Emergency Management, Environment Health & Safety, Security and Business Resilience for government and industry. Our EmerGeo software application provides all decision-makers with timely access to critical information and the decision-support tools needed before, during and after emergencies and major events.
EmerGeo’s unique managed Common Operating Picture (mCOP™) technology allows information stored in siloed systems to be shared securely and in a controlled way among work groups so that all decision-makers are working from the most up-to-date, accurate and validated information available. Our hosted Learning Management System (eLearning) ensures customers can implement our technology and best practices in a cost-effective manner.
EmerGeo Launched in Australia
New Emergency Management Application Released in Australia
EmerGeo Solutions Inc. is pleased to announce that it has appointed Spatial Vision as an authorised reseller for the company’s successful emergency management application – EmerGeo™. EmerGeo is an application specifically developed to meet the demanding and specialised needs of emergency planners and responders. EmerGeo was built by people with over 30 years of practical hands-on experience using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping technologies for emergency planning and response. As a result it has been designed from the ground up as a vital aide to emergency management and response.
Used in by an increasing number of emergency management organisations in the US and Canada, EmerGeo is a client/server application that allows emergency operational work groups to import, create and share spatial and other emergency information in a controlled and secure environment and publish this information via a web browser to designated users.
EmerGeo allows incidents to be logged and posted onto a “common operating view” or “situation” map, a map that can be viewed by the entire operations team. Other views can be defined for other groups (eg planning, logistics, etc). Designed around common incident work flows, most planner’s or operations manager’s tasks are fully integrated within the application.
Users can rapidly add new data sets on the fly, as they become available, without requiring specialist GIS training. Links to other nonspatial data sources (eg web cams and other web resources) can also be added easily.
The unique architecture of EmerGeo enables the client application to operate either with or without a connection to a corporate network. When connected, EmerGeo’s synchronisation capability allows the application to automatically download the latest updates or up-load field or other local observations.
EmerGeo does not seek to replace an organisation’s existing Geographic Information System (GIS) – in fact it leverages existing investment in such systems and data. EmerGeo’s OpenGIS® design ensures emergency planners and responders enjoy quick and simple access to the right map data obtained from one or multiple sources. Offering full integration with leading commercial off the shelf incident management systems (eg WebEOC® and EM2000™), and with the potential to integrate with other applications, EmerGeo provides an indispensable aide to the collaboration efforts of operations teams.
Emergency management organisations without a GIS can get started with EmerGeo client/server solution. Spatial Vision can assist with installation and configuration as well providing base map data.
Mike Morrow , Managing Director of EmerGeo Solutions, states “When selecting an Australian distributor, we wanted an organization with a combination of strong geospatial capabilities and hands-on experience in successfully deploying geospatial
applications into the local Emergency Services market. Spatial Vision was the obvious partner and we are very pleased that they are our Australian reseller.”
Glenn Cockerton, Spatial Vision’s Managing Director, said “Spatial Vision is committed to the support of the Emergency Service sector in Australia through the delivery of a range of products and services ranging from hard copy mapping and spatial data supply/management to the development interactive Municipal Emergency Management Plans. EmerGeo represents a significant increase in Spatial Vision’s range of product and services dedicated to the emergency management sector.”
EmerGeo Solutions Inc. is a privately held company incorporated in British
Columbia (Canada). The Principals combined have over 30 years of hands-on
emergency management experience and software development expertise to develop the EmerGeo software application.
For further information contact:
Graeme Martin
(03 9691 3000)
info
spatialvision
comau infospatialvisioncomau
EmerGeo Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services and fully integrated situation awareness technology solutions to help manage risk in Emergency Management, Environment Health & Safety, Security and Business Resilience for government and industry. Our EmerGeo software application provides all decision-makers with timely access to critical information and the decision-support tools needed before, during and after emergencies and major events.
EmerGeo’s unique managed Common Operating Picture (mCOP™) technology allows information stored in siloed systems to be shared securely and in a controlled way among work groups so that all decision-makers are working from the most up-to-date, accurate and validated information available. Our hosted Learning Management System (eLearning) ensures customers can implement our technology and best practices in a cost-effective manner.
Region of Waterloo (Ontario) Selects EmerGeo and WebEOC for Regional Emergency Operation Centre
Software to support the Regional Emergency Operation Centre and local communities.
VANCOUVER, B.C., June 30, 2005
EmerGeo Solutions of Vancouver, B.C. is please to announce that the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Ontario) has selected EmerGeo™ emergency mapping and WebEOC® crisis management software.
This decision was made after a competitive tendering process (RFP) and included onsite visits to watch the crisis management software in action and speak to its users. The web-based software will be implemented in the Region’s emergency operation centre later this year and used to track and coordinate response activities and resources during emergencies and exercises.
WebEOC has web-based status boards that can be linked to EmerGeo mapping for real-time map display of incident, resource, shelter, hospital and other status information. Some of the key reasons that emergency organizations are choosing WebEOC and EmerGeo are flexibility (import your HTML forms or build your own web status boards from scratch), cost effectiveness (unlimited web user license and minimal training requirements), and ease of use (use productively with 5-10 minute orientation).
“Crisis management software is not used every day and training budgets and resources are very limited in most organizations. EmerGeo™ and WebEOC® have proven again that they are the easiest to learn and most cost-effective solution of any of the leading crisis management software systems”, states Mike Morrow , Director of EmerGeo Solutions, Inc.
Many vendors claim they have the easiest system to use but we prefer to prove it. Contact us for your WebEOC demo system password and test drive it for yourself.
EmerGeo Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services and fully integrated situation awareness technology solutions to help manage risk in Emergency Management, Environment Health & Safety, Security and Business Resilience for government and industry. Our EmerGeo software application provides all decision-makers with timely access to critical information and the decision-support tools needed before, during and after emergencies and major events.
EmerGeo’s unique managed Common Operating Picture (mCOP™) technology allows information stored in siloed systems to be shared securely and in a controlled way among work groups so that all decision-makers are working from the most up-to-date, accurate and validated information available. Our hosted Learning Management System (eLearning) ensures customers can implement our technology and best practices in a cost-effective manner.
GIS Monitor Article on EmerGeo and WebEOC
Article from www.gismonitor.com – June 16, 2005
The City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is upgrading its emergency management software. Having already replaced ESRI ArcView 3.2 with EmerGeo mapping in its Emergency Operation Centre in October 2003, it is now also replacing EM/2000 — produced by Specialized Disaster Systems, Inc. — with EmerGeo’s version of WebEOC, a Web-based system that enables emergency managers and first responders to share GIS mapping and emergency data in real time. EmerGeo Solutions, which is based in Vancouver, developed the mapping system and interfaces to WebEOC to enable emergency staff to use GIS mapping technology without requiring technical expertise. The level of map detail and functionality is tailored to the role and skill level of each user. EmerGeo’s products do not replace any existing GIS, but build on top of the city’s GIS, leveraging its investment in its existing systems and data.
I asked Ron Martin, Vancouver’s emergency planning coordinator, what his organization’s principal requirement is for a GIS. “We need rapid assimilation of data from multiple sources for emergency management purposes,” he told me. Why did his agency switch from ArcView to EmerGeo? “ArcView was meeting our needs, but EmerGeo’s product bundle has tools that are a better match to what we do.” He cited a few examples: an emergency response guide for spills, hazardous materials dispersion models (such as the ALOHA plume model developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and the ability to analyze ground movement due to earthquakes.
However, when I asked Martin what the single most important reason was for purchasing the new system, his answer was “ease of use.” It takes him a lot less time, he told me, to get his staff trained in the use of this software than it did in the past with other systems. Michael Morrow, EmerGeo’s director of business development, stresses the same point: “ArcView required a GIS technician to operate it. A lot of this software is not used on a day-to-day basis and a GIS technician may not always be available. During an emergency, when people are operating under stress, it is a bad time to train them in the use of new software.”
I asked Morrow about his company’s experience with emergency management. He told me that he has been in the field for about 16 years and that Timothy Webb, the company’s president and chief technology officer, is a Search & Rescue manager and has worked extensively with Emergency Preparedness Canada (now called Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada). So EmerGeo built its systems from the perspective of the managers and staff of emergency operations centers (EOCs). Morrow began working with the City of Vancouver about five years ago.
The City of Vancouver’s GIS office provides the base map and digital orthophotography used by the system. EmerGeo’s mapping application imports these and other data and provides spatial representation of events and a common operational picture to emergency managers and responders. The city has used the software to coordinate its response to emergencies and to plan large public events, such as the annual Celebration of Light Fireworks Festival, which draws about half a million people, and the Stanley Cup playoffs. The software also allows city staff to generate status reports and manage resources. WebEOC is built on top of the mapping application and provides further functionality, including tracking activities and incident logging.
Both the mapping application and WebEOC are Microsoft-based. WebEOC can be hosted, installed locally, or a combination of both (hybrid). The architecture is a standard three tier: the database is Microsoft SQL Server 2000, the Web server is Microsoft IIS 6.0, and clients use Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.5 or above.
EmerGeo provides the emergency management data layers: incidents, resources, operational capabilities, etc. It has an emergency management workflow built into it that enables users, for example, to draw an evacuation area on a map. It also allows users to choose to which individuals or work groups to publish specific layers and automatically logs all activities and operations, which is important as an audit trail for legal purposes and for debriefings. The application is based on OpenGIS standards and gives users the option of creating live GIS connectors to any OpenGIS-capable mapping system, including MapGuide, which the city uses.
WebEOC was originally developed by Westinghouse about 15 years ago under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, then spun out to the private sector, where it was picked up by Emergency Services Integrators, a company based in Augusta, Georgia, that still considers it its flagship product. EmerGeo, in turn, considers itself “a value-added reseller” of the product. WebEOC’s principal interface model looks very much like a remote control for a television, enabling the user to view electronic status boards and maps. EmerGeo mapping controls the available layers and functionality depending on the user’s role and authorization. Text-based information entered into WebEOC can, in turn, be displayed on EmerGeo maps. As information is updated in WebEOC it is automatically updated in EmerGeo, with a refresh rate set by the user and a control panel that ensures that maps don’t become cluttered and that duplicate information is not being plotted. This allows the system to display a more accurate near-real time picture of the situation. Because EOCs often do not have a computer available for each team member, WebEOC status boards are designed to be readable on projection systems or individual computer displays, providing everyone access to real-time information.
Morrow showed me a demonstration of EmerGeo and WebEOC, using as scenario a hypothetical chlorine spill in Vancouver. On top of the base map used by the city, he turned on a layer of 10-centimeter resolution digital orthophotos; as he pointed out, these images, which appeared very quickly, were cached by EmerGeo’s “Smart Client” (thick client) — although a thin Web browser client can also be used to view them. In addition to the “Planning” tab that Morrow used in his demonstration, I could see three other tabs with map views: “Situation Map”, “Internet”, and “All Project Layers”. When he checked the “Significant Events” box on the main WebEOC control window, an events log appeared. Data entered into this log generates symbols on the EmerGeo map.
EmerGeo manages the map’s dynamic layers, displaying standard U.S. Department of Homeland Security symbols for various incidents, such as the chlorine spill, and resources, such as fire and police vehicles. By clicking on these symbols the user can drill down through various layers of data captured by WebEOC and EmerGeo. For example, clicking on a chlorine spill icon displays not only the latest incident information entered into WebEOC but also critical infrastructure, cadastre, and other map data managed through EmerGeo.
In actual use, field personnel with EmerGeo Smart Clients on their computers would be able to feed updates to the EmerGeo server running in the EOC. However, EmerGeo allows the operator to select which incoming data to auto-plot (geocode) on the map. Users can also draw polygons and associate them with hotlinks, for example to live camera feeds, or control their color based on “status” or “severity” fields. The boundaries and vertices of these polygons can be lat/long coordinates or geographic features, such as streets or rivers. The application dynamically calculates the perimeter and area of these polygons and enables the user to control the publishing of the layer among the different roles in the emergency management organization. Any annotation drawn on the map can be exported to ESRI shapefile format and used in other GIS applications.
WebEOC and EmerGeo work together to automatically log all activities in the system so that, after the emergency or exercise is over, a permanent legal record of events exists (an “audit trail”). This history log is a relational database table that can be queried and from which reports can be generated. Alternatively, the entire log can be exported to Microsoft Excel for additional analysis.
EmerGeo Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services and fully integrated situation awareness technology solutions to help manage risk in Emergency Management, Environment Health & Safety, Security and Business Resilience for government and industry. Our EmerGeo software application provides all decision-makers with timely access to critical information and the decision-support tools needed before, during and after emergencies and major events.
EmerGeo’s unique managed Common Operating Picture (mCOP™) technology allows information stored in siloed systems to be shared securely and in a controlled way among work groups so that all decision-makers are working from the most up-to-date, accurate and validated information available. Our hosted Learning Management System (eLearning) ensures customers can implement our technology and best practices in a cost-effective manner.
Vancouver Adopts WebEOC
City of Vancouver will manage emergencies with WebEOC®
WebEOC® is selected as new Crisis Management Software for City’s Emergency Operation Centre.
VANCOUVER, B.C., June 9, 2005 – EmerGeo Solutions of Vancouver, B.C. is please to announce that the City will upgrade its current EM/2000™ emergency management software to WebEOC® for managing emergencies and major events from its Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) at E-Comm.
WebEOC® gives emergency personnel electronic status boards to instantly capture and communicate information on the status of emergency events, resources, critical facilities and other critical information that decision-makers need within an emergency centre or in the field. The EmerGeo™ mapping software already running in Vancouver’s EOC has been integrated with WebEOC® and will continue to maintain a visual picture of what is happening on the ground and incorporates hazard models that predict what is expected to happen.
“We selected WebEOC® because it is used by many emergency organizations across North America and it was the most intuitive and cost effective solution available to the City”, states Ronald Martin, Emergency Coordinator for the City of Vancouver.
Vancouver’s EOC is located in state of the art E-Comm building. Communications are coordinated through the EOC (Ops Room)
EmerGeo Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services and fully integrated situation awareness technology solutions to help manage risk in Emergency Management, Environment Health & Safety, Security and Business Resilience for government and industry. Our EmerGeo software application provides all decision-makers with timely access to critical information and the decision-support tools needed before, during and after emergencies and major events.
EmerGeo’s unique managed Common Operating Picture (mCOP™) technology allows information stored in siloed systems to be shared securely and in a controlled way among work groups so that all decision-makers are working from the most up-to-date, accurate and validated information available. Our hosted Learning Management System (eLearning) ensures customers can implement our technology and best practices in a cost-effective manner.