1. FEMA Region VIII GIS Common Operating Picture
Jesse Rozelle
FEMA Region VIII GIS Coordinator
FEMA Modeling Task Force SME

2. Defining Situational Awareness Requirements
What analytics do we need? Some examples
Primary List:
Hazard Extent
Population Impacts
Building Impacts
CIKR (Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources) Impacts
Transportation Impacts
Secondary List:
Mass Care Requirements
NFIP Impacts/Coverage
Other?
We can create a very long list of potential impact analytics, but should we first all agree on basic, then extended lists?

3. Defining Situational Awareness Requirements
What is our goal?
Situational awareness?
Expediting declarations?
Expediting IA rental assistance?
Expediting response resources?
Public outreach and risk communication?
Projecting long term economic impacts?

4. Is our disaster striking a small, rural town
Is our disaster striking a small, rural town? Scale determines level of detail possible in the given timeframe.
Minot, ND 2011

5. Is our disaster causing impacts across a state
Is our disaster causing impacts across a state? If impacts are statewide, less detail is possible.
Colorado Floods, 2013

6. Is our disaster causing devastating impacts across the entire east coast? For Hurricane Sandy, the level of detail for day 1 was lower than that of Minot, and also required a full team of 8 experienced analysts.

7. Weather Watches/Warning, Pre Activation Example
Is this level of situational awareness expected? If so, NWS is already providing the highest level of detail possible at this stage

8. What does Situational Awareness Look Like? Various Product Formats
Operations Dashboard Viewer
Spreadsheet
GeoPlatform Viewer
FEMA Automated COP
Static (Paper) Maps

9. Event Specific FEMA Operations Dashboard Viewer (Product #1)
Pros
Much simpler interface
Much smaller learning curve
Easily accessible analytics
Cons
Less detailed interactive viewer capability
Proposed audience:
Planners
Emergency managers
Senior leadership
RRCC main projectors
Example available at:

10. Event Specific FEMA GeoPlatform Viewer (Product #2)
Pros
Full interactive web viewer functionality
Ability to query, turn on/off specific layers
Full access to all situational awareness information
Fully transferable content to State/local/OFA GIS departments
Fully documented section for analysis methods (
Cons
Steeper learning curve
Derived analytics require manually investigating various data layers
Proposed audience:
Analysts
Planners
Emergency managers
Example available at:

11. Event Specific Impacts Spreadsheet(#3)
Full spreadsheet of all impacts, easily copied and pasted into reports
Proposed audience:
Analysts
Planners
Emergency managers
Senior leadership
Example available at:

12. Event Specific Static Paper Maps (#4)
Pros
Easy to print
Can be inserted into documents
Cons
Not real time, often outdated quickly
Take much longer to create, degrading situational awareness product turnaround time
Only portray one level of impacts per map
Requires constant cycling of all products
Promotes constant printing of outdated products
Proposed audience:
Planners
Emergency managers
Senior leadership
Standard R8 paper framework menu available here:

13. FEMA Automated COP (#5) Pros
Comprehensive real time (daily) tracking of all FEMA program expenses by disaster
Self updating for all open FEMA disasters
Direct program linkages to IA, PA, Mitigation, and Finance databases
Cons
Available on FEMA intranet only
Proposed audience:
FEMA program areas
FEMA Automated COP can be accessed here:

14. National Solution Based on FEMA HQ COP Summit
Provide all 5 product formats in one (or web portal), to meet the requirements of all audiences
Provide concise, simple “talking points” for senior leadership to get an overview on impacts
This approach falls in line with FEMA HQ’s new approach to solving for the “Common Operating Picture” and implementing new technologies to provide analytics in support of situational awareness

15. R8 Proposed Standard Geospatial Products Update Format

16. Current Challenges to R8 Geospatial Readiness
Technical (IT)
Smart board in the RRCC is currently only functioning as a screen , touch capability is not installed
New RRCC plotter driver has issues on many machines
RRCC video displays– can we collocate the GIS workstation in the RRCC to the same place as the monitor display control (back corner), and give GIS the ability to control the RRCC monitors?
Training
We would like to provide a 1 hour training in the RRCC each month to familiarize RRCC staff with GIS products now available; this training will include
GIS viewers -GeoPlatform, Operations Dashboard
Paper map product formats and menu
Plotter printing, graphic file formats (PDF to JPG)
Google maps, NWS resources
FEMA Automated COP
Process
Full distribution lists at the onset of an event will speed our product delivery
Feedback on requirements and any limitations in our products provided during steady state will help us better meet requirements
Please submit ALL GIS REQUESTS TO This ensures that all requests are met expeditiously, regardless of who is in the office.

17. Questions?