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GIS Technology Gives Communities a Head Start Disasters happen. While we don't like to think about them, we have to plan for them. A disaster response plan not only minimizes the loss of life and property but also enables communities and individuals to achieve a degree of normalcy much more quickly after a devastating event. Communities, businesses, and agencies that have successfully pulled themselves up after a disaster find that their recovery started in the planning process. Geographic information system (GIS) technology is a powerful data management tool that strings together unconnected data sources for quicker analysis, organization, and sharing of information. This power is being used in today's business enterprise to manage operations and for business continuity planning. While you may not be familiar with GIS, you are familiar with its main form of communication—a map. Whether we are navigating to destinations or choosing restaurants to visit, maps are necessary for decision-making in our everyday lives. The same holds true for businesses that use GIS. For example,
GIS allows staff members to evaluate information in relation to potential disruptions in ways that are not possible with text or tabular representations of the same data. Not only does GIS provide a graphic user interface that enables the user to quickly navigate through geospatial data, including complex three-dimensional datasets, it also enables organizations to visualize and maintain overall situational awareness during normal operations and emergencies. GIS makes many activities possible by allowing users to see where everything is located. These activities include damage assessment and repair, employee and family notification, evacuations, facilities mapping, selection of alternative sites, supply chain assessment, action planning, and command system operations. Having a complete view of information by combining building plans, street maps, mapping of real-time weather, and employee and asset information improves decision-making in the response phase. The ability of GIS to model what-if scenarios can also help improve the recovery phase by identifying challenges and analyzing alternatives during the transition from response to recovery. Preparing for and recovering from a disaster requires coordination and collaboration among many entities: government agencies, elected officials, privately held businesses, the community, and others. Collecting information, analyzing vulnerabilities, developing mitigation Communities, businesses, and organizations can rebound from unforeseen events with planning and the use of GIS. |
Pug Gutridge (pictured) is president of Cherokee Information Services, and Simon Thompson is director of commercial business industry at ESRI.
Ch 2: Systems and Functions
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