EPC Updates: Top Ten Countdown for 2011

If Guy Lombardo, Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, and host of others can have New Year's Eve countdowns, so can the EPC.  So, find below, in descending order for EPC Updates, countries of top readership, and the most popular posts during 2011:

Top Countries of Readership for 2011:

10. Japan
9.   Australia
8.   Philippines
7.   India
6.   Germany
5.   France
4.   Canada
3.   United Kingdom
2.   Russia
1.   United States

With over 3/4's of the hits on this blog since inception on June 23rd, 2011, it should come as no surprise that the most avid readers of this blog live in the United States.  However, what is surprising is that among EPC Updates readers living on all six habitable continents, the next most avid group comes from Russia?   Hmmm......


Top Posts for 2011:

10. Geospatial Tech's Impact on Government's Emergency Response Efforts - Aug 24, 2011
9.   The Future is Now: A GIS Driven Common Operating Picture at California ISO - Dec 12, 2011
8.   Twin Cities GECCo Wrapup - Oct 29, 2011
7.   Tickets - The FREE Open Source Computer-Aided-Dispatch Software - Sep 24, 2011
6.   DHS Launches OneView - Prepares to Pull Plug on iCAV - Jul 22, 2011
5.   Google's Crisis Map - Falling Short of the Mark - August 28, 2011
4.   U.S. National Grid - "In" The FEMA Think Tank - Dec 16, 2011
3.   Garmin Greatly Expands the Number of Units With U.S. National Grid Capability - Nov 8, 2011
2.   HSIP Gold 2011 Released - Mar 9, 2011
1.   First Successful Cyber Attack Against U.S. Infrastructure - Nov 21, 2011

With over 400 hits in one day, no other story on this blog came close to receiving the attention of this year's number one story: First Successful Cyber Attack Against U.S. Infrastructure.  While several news organizations have subsequently reported the Department of Homeland Security and FBI are now saying the incident was a "false alarm," the reality is the scenario attributed to the event remains valid.  For that reason, on November 30, 2011, House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan's 8th, and Committee Ranking Member, Representative Mitch Rupperberger of Maryland's 2nd, introduced H.R. 3523: "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011".  As envisioned, the bill, which now has 37 co-sponsors, will allow the nation's intelligence directorate to share cyber relate threat information with the nation's infrastructure owners.

Lost on the Way to the Fire

As they have several times in the past, Firehouse.com recently ran an article about the lack of a uniform and precise way to communicate location information in the Fire Service.  Here's the lead-in sentence from the article:

"Several weeks ago, city firefighters were dispatched to a call on Hewitt Street in the East End. Except they were actually needed four miles away on Jewett Street in the North End." 

To read the remainder of the article, go here.


Comment: Clear and precise communication of location in the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) isn't an issue isolated only to the Bridgeport Fire Department featured in the above article.  As related in a previous post on this blog: The 9-1-1 Carnage Continues...., the issue impacts all sectors of the ESS and all regions of the nation.  However, there is a solution for the situation, it's called the U.S. National Grid (USNG).

Things Are Jump'n In Frogtown

The geospatial efforts of Tait Danielson Castillo, Executive Director of the District 7 Planning Council of St. Paul, were recently subject of a featured article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.   Specifically highlighted was Castillo's use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map data that was then used to engage the neighborhood's 5,500 residents on issues ranging from community gardens to crime hot spots.  Go here to read more.


Comment: This is a "big jump" forward for Frogtown's efforts to create a cohesive neighborhood and make it a safer place.  However, similar follow-on efforts in other neighborhoods are certain to "leapfrog" it if Frogtown keeps its policy that mapped data will not be shared with the public.  That's because the best situational awareness comes from data collaboration, not data collection.  And you can't effectively collaborate, without sharing.

TCIP Conference Presentation Materials are Now Available

In late Summer, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), in association with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), hosted the 12th Annual Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness (TCIP) Conference and Exposition.  As described in a recent news release, the conference:

"...brought together first responders, government officials, academic experts and others to share their knowledge of technological advances made over the past 10 years that strengthen our nation's ability to handle emergencies.  Presenters, invited by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Department of Defense focused on the use of technology in prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.  Topics included responses to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, personal location and tracking technologies, new aviation systems and tools, biosurveillance, addressing the active shooter threat, social media alerts and warnings, and more."

NIJ has recently made many of the presentations from this event available at its JustNet online site.  Go here to view and/or download. 


Comment: More than a few of these presentations incorporate the thought that GIS is critical to preparedness and response efforts.  Happy hunting!

Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8

On March 30, 2011, President Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8: National Preparedness.  Much like what has been done for response efforts through the National Response Framework, PPD-8 requires release of a series of documents that will bring better definition and structure to the nation's preparedness efforts.  To date, three main documents, and a variety of materials supporting them, have been released:

• September 23, 2011: The National Disaster Recovery Framework
• September 30, 2011: The National Preparedness Goal
• December 6, 2011: The National Preparedness System Description

To learn more and read these documents and supporting materials, go to FEMA's home page for PPD-8, located here.  

Comment: As part of the above efforts, in November FEMA released its Think Tank as a way to directly engage the public.  Currently, the number one suggestion posted on the Think Tank was offered by this author: U.S. National Grid as the Response Language of Location.  Please keep the votes coming in for this one so the issue receives the attention it deserves!  (The process of voting is quick and easy as related here.)

Itttt's Baaaaaack - EMI's Social Media Webinar

On December 7th, 2011, the Mission Support Branch of the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) hosted a webinar for Federal, State, Local, Tribal and emergency management personnel and their staff on the use of social media.  300 individuals tuned into the event making it the largest webinar ever sponsored by EMI.  Consequently, EMI has decided to repeat the webinar.  Here are the details:

Date/Time: January 18, 2012 from 4:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time (ET)

Website Information: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/r72351348

• The webinar is an informational brief. Therefore, participants do not register.

Conference Bridge Information: 1-800-320-4330 and Pin #: 885312.

• There are a limited number of lines that will be available on a first come, first served basis. Once the 300 lines are used, no further lines will be available. If possible, please conserve lines by calling in as a group.

Closed Captioning Information: http://fedrcc.us//Enter.aspx?EventID=1877175&CustomerID=321

Course Description: The webinar defines social media and presents the emerging trends and best practices in using social media applications (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc.) during all phases of emergency management. It also provides a tutorial on how to access and work within these social media applications. The webinar concludes with an overview on how emergency management and response personnel can help their organizations find their unique voice in social media.

Course Goals: At the completion of this training, participants will have a basic knowledge of:

• Social media best practices;
• Working within various social media; and
• Finding your unique voice in social media.

EMI Point of Contact: For course information, contact the EMI course manager, Doug Kuhn, at (301) 447-1287, 1-800-238-3358 (ext. 1287) or email: doug.kuhn@fema.dhs.gov.

Adobe Connect Information:

• Test your connection if you have never attended a Connect Pro meeting before: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
• Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview

Happy Holidays From Minnesota!!!

Click here for the 2011 Holiday Greeting Card, University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business

NORAD Tracks Santa!

Once again, the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) will be geospatially tracking Jolly Old Saint Nick as makes his way around the world.  Watch the action online, in Google Earth, or on your phone!  Go here.

Ho, ho, ho.....Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Map of Preventable Diseases

The renowned Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recently released an interactive map showing outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.  Initially based on more than three years’ worth of news clippings collected by staff, going forward the map encourages submission of “crowd sourced” data that can be verified in major news articles.  Go here to view the map and learn more.

Comment:  Here’s another example of an organization not normally associated with the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) that is working to bring visualization to public safety/health data.  Most interestingly, lacking apparent access to formal information flows from organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO), the CFR has instead opted use an approach that relies on the awareness of the masses.  In that thought is another emerging reality for the ESS – social media is both transmit AND receive.

Smartphone Safety Application for Rutgers Students

A collaborative effort involving teachers and students at Rutgers University has resulted in development of a smartphone application that provides users with information about crime prone areas of the campus.  This mobile GIS uses two sources of mapped information to deliver situational awareness to users:

1. Data on past criminal activity
2. Crowd sourced information about safety features like lighting

To learn more, go here.


Comment: Note that this application was not developed through efforts of the Rutgers campus police, but by the community at large.  Thus, much like the circumstances related in the "Safecast" post on this blog, it's another example of others doing the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) mission when the ESS hasn't kept up with the Geospatial Revolution.

Terrorism Concern: Scientists Asked to Withhold “Bird Flu” Data

Photo: The Guardian

Here's the story's lead-in: "For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to create deadly viruses and touch off epidemics."  To read the article from the New York Times, click the link below:

HEALTH | December 21, 2011
Seeing Terror Risk, U.S. Asks Journals to Cut Flu Study Facts
By DENISE GRADY and WILLIAM J. BROAD
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has urged Science and Nature to keep details out of reports that they intend to publish on a highly transmissible form of the bird flu.


Comment: In the age we now live, any major pandemic, whether it is man-made or naturally occurring, in human beings or animals, really only has one hope of containment - situational awareness through geospatial technologies.  Beyond understanding "where" to direct the fight, geospatial technologies are key to tracing virus movement, anticipating future outbreaks, and setting containment zones.  Such was the case with the very serious outbreak of Hoof and Mouth in Great Britain and Northern Europe in 2001.  By the time the disease manifest itself, it was already multi-nodal due to the extensive and rapid movement of animals facilitated by modern agriculture.  Thus, the only way to comprehensively understand how to put the genie back in the bottle in a situation like that was through a geospatially driven approach (re: Minnesota Veterinary Observer, Dale Neirby). 

With regard to bird flu, to date efforts have focused primarily on anticipating transmission from native species.  In 2010, Ecology and Society, hosted a series of papers on "risk mapping" of avian influenza.  Although "risk mapping" is less about location and more about transmission factors for most authors on this subject matter, one exception is Professor A. Townsend Peterson of the University of Kansas.  Through lots of hard work that included combing more than 50 plus years of Audubon bird watcher reports, Professor Townsend developed an extensive transmission model for the North American continent that predicts further points of outbreak based on location of the first confirmed case, date and bird type.  

Unfortunately, the greater response community doesn't seem to understand that dynamic geospatial awareness is essential to limiting the pandemic transmission process in the human population.  On one hand, the medical community, from the Centers for Disease Control on down, appear to be thinking about geospatial technology circa 2006 - static map products used to relate post event statistics.  Additionally, current daily disease outbreak reporting and the next generation of health records include scant location capability relative to what is possible.  On the other hand, the emergency management community, has neither the expertise, nor capacity, to engage the medical community on the issue.  Consequently, the potential for real-time situational awareness reporting from the medical community is still decades away.   Given the very real possibility that an easily mutated deadly bird flu virus could now end up in the wrong hands, it might be prudent for us to collectively rethink our engagement on this issue.         

Unified Incident Command and Decision Support

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently launched a website to promote its Unified Incident Command and Decision Support (UICDS) software. Under development by SAIC since 2009, UICDS is intended to be a "middleware" data sharing program. As described at the UICDS home page, the intent of the effort is as follows:

"UICDS is information sharing middleware for NIMS incident management that continuously receives and shares standardized data among many agencies during an incident. Your everyday application gets from UICDS exactly the data you need to use, visualize, process, improve, decide, and then share back through UICDS to keep everyone informed.

Because UICDS is middleware, there is no new user interface to learn, no cost to obtain it, and you retain complete control over your data. You get notified when an agency has provided new or updated incident data and you share your data with whom you want instantaneously and in the background without any disruption to your operation."

To learn more, go here.


Comment: It seems as though that at any moment in time, the Department of Homeland Security has more than a few of these information sharing technology development efforts underway.   Often, as is the case with UICDS, geospatial is a big piece of the puzzle.   Yet, to date, robust geospatial information sharing remains an elusive goal for the Emergency Services Sector.   Hopefully, UICDS will be able to help change that landscape going forward.

Geospatial Technology Comes to the Maurtitius Police Force

Recently, the online version of GeoInformatics Magazine reported on deployment of a customized Geographic Information System for the Maurtitius Police Force.  Although the system serves an Indian Ocean island nation few have ever heard of, this user friendly system offers some substantial technical capabilities.  Go here to read the article.


Comment: The perceived level of a country's development often gets in the way of understanding advancements in technology.  U.S. police departments could learn a lot from this Maurtitius Police Force system, the same way the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration could learn a lot from Mongolia's air traffic control system (see comments by Senator Jay Rockefeller mid-way down the page).

NOAA - 2011: A Bad Year For Weather Related Disasters

In early December, several news organizations reported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had confirmed what many had suspected - even with a month still left in the year, 2011 was the worst year on record for weather related U.S. disasters.  In all, NOAA was reporting there had been 12 events, each causing more than a billion dollars worth of damage.

To put this report in perspective, NOAA has set up a web site to tell the tale.  Go here.


Comment: In 1860, 80% of Americans lived in rural settings and the nation's population was approximately 31 million.  In 2010, 80% of Americans lived in urban settings and the country's population was approximately 310 million.  While there are more than a few who would like to focus discussion of rising costs of weather related events solely on climate change, the reality is that as infrastructure has become more tightly interwoven, and the nation's population has become more densely packed and grown 10 fold, the opportunity for weather to bring harm to individuals and man-made structures has increased significantly over the last 150 years.  Thus, it's all the more reason why the best possible geospatial technology should be in the hands of the Emergency Sevices Sector.  An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure.

Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami - Visualizing Before and After

Over the past week, a number of organizations have offered reflections on the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami of earlier this year.  Many of them have used maps and satellite photos to highlight the extent of the problems that remain.  For your consideration:

1.) Click on the link below to read an article from the New York Times.  Associated maps and satellite photos are offered as separate links:

WORLD   | December 07, 2011

Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup

By MARTIN FACKLER

Japan hopes the cleanup near the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will allow the displaced to return home.

• Click here, for an oblique graphic and maps of the Fukushima region.
• Click here, for a series of comparative satellite views of the damaged areas in Japan.

2.) Proceed to Google's "Memories for the Future" site.  On it you will find a Google Maps application that provides a StreetView version of "before and after" the devastation.  Drag the gold colored "Google Man" down from above the scale slide bar on the upper left hand side of the map, and drop him onto any part of the map's blue colored areas to begin your tour. Click here.

3.) Nagasaki Archive has created a Google Earth mashup that allows users to view post event photos overlaid onto a pre-event version of Google Earth.  Go here to read about the effort and see representative examples.


Comment:  The brain works in pictures - its the reason we can see multiple different views of something like a dog (face, profile, top-down, etc.), and still recognize what we are looking at is a dog.  Its smoehting I tinhk you cmolpeetly udrnetsnad - eevn touhgh I dnot tnihk you hvae eevr ralley tohuhgt auobt it.  See what I mean?  Your brain even processes words as pictures.  Consequently, the best way to relate any story is by using - pictures.  And when that story is about a disaster, maps and aerial photos are the only way to tell a story that's about location - whether it's while the disaster is happening, or later.

U.S. National Grid - "In" The FEMA Think Tank

As noted previously on this blog, a little over a month ago FEMA launched The FEMA Think Tank as a website where individuals can offer, "ideas for strengthening the emergency management field and improving the nation’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters."  Others can then review these posts and vote concerning respective value.   The FEMA Think Tank is located here:  http://fema.ideascale.com/.  

Last week on The Think Tank, a post was offered by this author entitled, “U.S. National Grid as the Response Language of Location”.  It can be found on the first page of suggestions.  It is currently rated number 3 out of 115+ suggestions for improvement.

Comment: In an effort to help raise awareness about the lack of a nationally consistent standard for communicating location in the Emergency Services Sector, a "get out the vote" campaign for this post is underway.  Consequently, as a reader of this blog, your assistance is being requested:

1. Please proceed to The FEMA Think Tank, review the post, and then give it your thoughtful consideration.  To do that, go here: http://fema.ideascale.com/a/dtd/U.S.-National-Grid-as-the-Response-Language-of-Location/320144-14692
2. If you are in agreement with the post and are willing to vote for it, please create a user profile by clicking “Register” in the top right corner of the web page. Registration is VERY quick and easy.
3. Then return to the post and vote for it by clicking on the associated “Thumbs-up, I agree”.
4. Done. 

A few minutes of your time spent on this simple project, could very well help change the way the nation does business in the Emergency Services Sector.  Thank you.

The LightSquared Fight Card

From this point forward, you're going to need a fight card to keep up with events taking place over in the LightSquared Arena.  Here's an update:

December 9th, 2011: Bloomberg News reports a second round of Federal Communication Commission (FCC) mandated interference tests confirmed LightSquared's broadband system would disrupt the signal to 75% of GPS units.  Go here.

December 10th, 2011: The Wall Street Journal reports LightSquared's financier, Minnesota youth hockey prodigy, Philip Falcone, is being threatened with possible civil-fraud charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Go here.

December 12th, 2011: Bloomberg News article fills in the details of the SEC investigation into Mr. Falcone and Harbinger Capital Partners.  Go here.

December 12th, 2011: CEO of LightSquared, Sanjiv Ahuja, fires off a letter to Department of Defense Deputy Under Secretary Ashton Carter and Department of Transportation Under Secretary John Porcari (interference testing leads), demanding an investigation into the information leaked to Bloomberg News on December 9th.  Go here for the letter.

December 14th, 2011: The report on the second round of interference testing is due to the Executive Committee overseeing testing.

Comment: Get Reeeaddy to RUMMMBLLLEEEE!  More background information on this situation can be found in the following previous posts on this blog:

• September 19, 2011: LightSquared Turns Into a Political Dogfight
• September 13, 2011: Congressional Hearings Into LightSquared Interfernce with GPS
• July 20, 2011: Comments From the LightSquared Discussion Panel at the ESRI Survey Summit
• July 12, 2011: The LightSquared Battle Heats Up
• July 8, 2011: LightSquared GPS Update
• June 16, 2011: More on LightSquared

HAZUS Goes to Singapore

The HAZUS program recently announced that National University of Singapore  will begin a HAZUS pilot study.  Find below the official news release:

"We're very proud to announce that the National University in Singapore (NUS) has received approval to conduct a HAZUS pilot study.   This is a significant accomplishment for the HAZUS program and we are hopeful that this will lead to further use of  HAZUS in Singapore.

Earlier this year, the NUS was asked to perform a study for the government of Singapore on sea level rise using loss estimation methodology. After researching the best methodologies and tools available, the NUS concluded that HAZUS deserved looking into further. NUS representatives then worked with FEMA to arrange for face to face meetings with members of the HAZUS program team.

Eric Berman, HAZUS Program Manager, Philip Moore of the Emergency Management Institute and Kevin Mickey from The Polis Center visited NUS in November to provide additional information on the HAZUS software. Their presentation, which included a HAZUS workshop and demonstration of the HAZUS methodology, was attended by government representatives from Singapore, NUS and other local academic institutions. As a result of these meetings, NUS decided to pilot the use of HAZUS for their study.  

A leading international university centered in Asia, NUS offers a global approach to education and research. Its transformative education program includes a broad-based curriculum with over 36,000 students from 100 countries.

The HAZUS Program Team looks forward to increased opportunities to work with HAZUS internationally. This visit to Singapore follows the signing of an agreement between the U.S. and Canada in August to provide HAZUS software to Canada."


Comment:  The interest shown in HAZUS by both Singapore and Canada is great news.  The greater the involvement by organizations with diverse perspectives, the better the HAZUS product will be for all.

North Dakota: First Known Use of a Drone During the Arrest of a U.S. Citizen

Several newspapers, to include the Minneapolis Star Tribune, recently reported on an event that took place in eastern North Dakota in late June 2011.  Specifically, for the first time inside the borders of the United States, a Predator drone was used for surveillance during the arrest of three U.S. citizens.  Go here to read the article as printed in the LA Times on December 10, 2011.


Comment: Here's yet another controversy when it comes to privacy and the Geospatial Revolution - and our failure as a nation to consider where things are headed before we get there.  On one side are those who believe law enforcement drones are a much greater violation of personal privacy than is the case with observation airplanes.  On the other, are those who see drones as nothing more than better technology that will make law enforcement easier and safer.  Debaters, start your engines.

The Future is Now: A GIS Driven Common Operating Picture at California ISO

In 2009, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) Corporation, an entity that manages 80% of the power grid in California, commenced construction of a state-of-the-art control center that incorporates situational intelligence.  Central to these efforts was the introduction of geospatial displays that function on several levels, to include displaying real time information about Emergency Services Sector (ESS) related events and disasters.  The company that built the system for California ISO, Space-Time Insight, has recently released a series of videos documenting the effort.  Find below a trailer for the series:

Additional videos, to include one dedicated specifically to crisis management can be found on the Space-Time Insight video page located here.

In addition, a two-page background document is available here.

Comment: The above featured video and supporting reference material bring to mind at least five different points about the apparent future of the Geospatial Revolution in the utility sector:

1. Geospatial technologies and SCADA will become increasingly intertwined.
2. Geospatial products and services will become less about applications run by trained professionals, and more about inclusive systems that provide basic analytical capabilities to information managers and decision makers.
3. ESS related geospatial information will become an essential element of information in the control system of any well managed utility.
4. In order to prioritize response efforts, emergency managers and responders will need real-time access to a geospatial "Big Picture" for each major utility within their zone of responsibility.
5. In much the same way utility companies were at the forefront of efforts to introduce GIS technology, they are now on the cutting edge of efforts to introduce Common Operating Picture (COP) technology - something of great value to the ESS.

Taken together, the thoughts above are the reason the EPC began developing a working relationship with the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) in 2009.  GITA stood then, as it does now, as the lone professional geospatial organization in this arena that is not stuck in the present, nor beholden to any specific software.  Instead, through its GECCo effort dating back to 2004, and its Emergency Response Symposium effort dating back to 2008, it had anticipated the paradigm shift in the utility sector that is now starting to materialize.  It's also the reason GITA alone has received Department of Homeland Security (DHS) financial backing for delivery of its GECCo program; most recently in Dallas and the Twin Cities, and soon to be followed in the San Francisco East Bay on January 26 and 27, 2012, and Charlotte, NC, later this spring.   

National Infrastructure Protection Month

Late last month, President Obama designated December as National Infrastructure Protection Month.  In the official news release provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Suzanne Spaulding, Deputy Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, noted that:

"Our Nation’s critical infrastructure includes everything from power plants, chemical facilities and cyber networks to bridges and highways, stadiums and shopping malls, as well as the federal buildings where millions of Americans work and visit each day.

Protecting these assets is a shared responsibility. As required by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, The Department of Homeland Security leads this effort through a framework of public-private partnerships in close collaboration with the 18 critical infrastructure sectors, which include federal, state, and local governments as well as private sector infrastructure owners and operators."

To learn more about this topic and the role geospatial technologies play in the effort, go here.


Comment: Despite all the chest beating that can be found in the various links above, the reality is that with 85% of the nation's critical infrastructure in the hands of private operators, there are limits on what DHS can do to protect the nation in this arena.  Consequently, as noted by Deputy Under Secretary Spaulding with her "shared responsibility" comment - without a collaborative working relationship with the nation's infrastructure owners, the DHS "mission" is dead on arrival.  It is for this reason, that companion efforts that bridge the public-private gap like the FBI's InfraGard program, and GITA's GECCo effort are absolutely critical to developing meaningful protection and resiliency for the nation's infrastructure.

Mapping and the National Institute of Justice

For a number of years the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has promoted the use of geospatial technologies in the realm of public safety.  Their main effort in this regard is known as Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety (MAPS).  Through MAPS, NIJ promotes four basic geospatial concepts that support law enforcement:

• How to use maps to analyze crime,
• How to analyze spatial data,
• How maps can help researchers evaluate programs and policies, and
• How to develop mapping, data sharing and spatial analysis tools.

To go to the MAPS home page, click here.


Comment: This website has a great deal of information accessible through links on the left side bar.  Of particular note is the web page with free downloads for three software programs NIJ has paid to develop:

• CrimeStat III
• FacilityCop
• School Cop