Tool Helps Emergency Personnel Track Resources

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing a new collaborative mapping tool designed to help emergency management officials better coordinate event and incident planning.

According to an article on the Science Daily website, GTRI has teamed with Atlanta-based company Emergency Visions to provide mapping capabilities for a resource database the firm developed to identify, activate, track and coordinate response assets.

“Researchers began developing the Geographic Tool for Visualization and Collaboration (GTVC) in 2000 for military applications, but it has since been tailored to the needs of the emergency management community and first responders,” the article says.

The GTVC is designed to track chemical or smoke plumes and help management personnel plan evacuation routes for emergencies such as hurricanes, fires or flooding. To do this, the system tracks resources, including the locations of hospitals, fire stations, schools, nursing homes, sand bags, dump trucks, water, personnel and supplies in an affected region.

The software can also give emergency planners a snapshot of what is going on during the disaster. The information is displayed on the map with the Department of Homeland Security’s official emergency management icons.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080116080255.htm