Client Success Story

Coordinated Mapping for Western Australia Emergency Management

Mark Taylor – Project Manager, SLIP EM

Shared Land Information Platform

In October 2004, the Western Australian Government approved the implementation of the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP). The objective for SLIP is to enable improvements for business processes and systems through provision of a single point of access to government spatial information. SLIP is proposed to provide common services for all Western Australian Government, commercial and civil lines of business with a requirement for spatial information.

Emergency management was identified as one of the four initial focus areas to assess and demonstrate the benefits from SLIP. To realise the benefits for emergency management, the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) was tasked to be the lead agency and work with the State’s emergency services sector to develop user requirements and establish a pilot service to utilise the SLIP services.

The SLIP Emergency Management (SLIP-EM) activities are being coordinated through a cross agency Working Group, reporting to the State Emergency Management Committee, who are guiding the initiative to:

• ensure operational staff have access to the “Same Information at Same Time”
• ensure decisions can be based on current, authoritative, and consistent data;
• broaden awareness, availability and the use of available spatial information; and
• provide spatial tools that support operational systems and existing emergency management procedures.

Servicing Cross Agency Cooperation
In developing a service to support the state’s emergency management activities, common services and data are required to support the twenty three hazard situations that are potentially experienced in Western Australia (flood, cyclone, bushfire, search and rescue, dam break, road transport emergencies, etc). State emergency management plans for each hazard are known as WESTPLANS and are prepared by the responsible Hazard Management Agency (HMA) and allied support organisations to provide strategic, state-level arrangements for managing particular hazards for which they are responsible.

The challenge for the SLIP-EM initiative is to build a cross agency spatial capability that assists in sharing and exchanging incident and planning information that can support the roles of the HMA and all support agencies for the respective hazard scenarios.

Development of the SLIP-EM Pilot Mapping Services
A generic set of operational requirements were established following analysis of the information flows and operational requirements of staff involved in HAZMAT, Search and Rescue and Bushfire operations. These operational requirements were subsequently used to assess various technology options from which EmerGeo was selected as the application to establish the SLIP-EM pilot mapping services.
EmerGeo is providing a number of strategic benefits in assisting the deployment of the SLIP-EM pilot services, including:

1. the ability to access real time data via the Internet;
2. the ability to integrate mapping information from distributed sources;
3. provision of both online and offline capability;
4. the ability to be individually customised or configured for specific hazard and operational needs; and
5. provision of a simple GIS capability with minimum training requirements.

EmerGeo can be readily configured to meet a range of scenarios and applications. The pilot system is currently being configured to support the critical information flows and user requirements for an initial set of hazard activities. This configuration is being undertaken with the guidance of the responsible Hazard Management Agency and in consultation with the relevant support agencies. The initial HMAs and hazards include: WA Police Service (Search and Rescue and Special Event Planning); Department of Environment and Conservation (Bushfire), and FESA (Bushfire and HAZMAT). The configured services will be made available to trial during the next four months, over selected regions, and will be tested through various desktop and operational activities. Following the trials, a review will be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of

1. the SLIP data and technical services; and
2. the SLIP-EM mapping services supporting cross agency coordination of emergency management operations

The feedback and formal evaluation of these trials will provide the focus for future development of the SLIP services to ensure they are operationally reliable and fit for purpose for the initial hazard scenarios and other additional hazards that affect Western Australia (i.e. flood, cyclone).

Engagement of the Western Australian Emergency Management community
So far, the EmerGeo product has proved to be a valuable tool in engaging operational staff and management. The system has been valuable in demonstrating the objectives and expected benefits from the SLIP-EM initiative. The participants have been excited with the ability to have a simple GIS capability configured for their specific needs that can share real time mapping information. Users have been able to gain an appreciation of the benefits in integrating the information in near real time. HAZMAT operational staff found particular benefits in using the mapping interface to link to associated risk management plans and to gain access to real time and forecast plume models. The service has been trialled in a number of desktop exercises and has gained the support of the various participants. The application has enabled the required information to be effectively used at the incident scene while providing an overall management perspective at the incident control centre and at offices of the various support agencies. By providing this customised information, users have quickly realised the availability and benefits of existing spatial information. This is further helping in refining operational needs and providing a mechanism to develop the processes and protocols to exchange and share the incident and planning information. Without the availability and functionality of the EmerGeo product, the SLIP-EM initiative would not have progressed this quickly nor would it have been possible to engage the range of both operational and management personnel that are participating in and supporting the project.

For further information on SLIP-EM contact:

Mark Taylor Phone (08) 9416 3601

For further information on SLIP see http://202.72.132.74/slip/

Copyright © Spatial Vision, Wednesday, 20-December-2006