Monday, August 6, 2012

DHS Geospatial CONOPS Version 4.0


Brain child of Dan Cotter, past Geospatial Management Officer, and now Chief Technology Officer of the  Department of Homeland Security, on the last day of June 2012 the Department of Homeland Security released draft version 4.0 of the Homeland Security Geospatial Concept of Operations (GeoCONOPS).  As described on the inside cover, the intent of the document is as follows:
This draft Geospatial Concept of Operations (GeoCONOPS) has been developed as a starting point for understanding how the coordination of disaster response geospatial activities can be improved at the Federal level. The intended audience for this draft document are the geospatial communities that support emergency management activities of the Federal government under the National Response Framework (NRF). This includes individual Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), the Joint Field Offices (JFO) and operations centers, including the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC). Stakeholders and actors representing ESFs, operations centers, and involved in other NRF activities have been extensively engaged in providing input for this document.
To download, click the link below (Note: Latest version is also always available via a link in right side bar):



Comment: Three thoughts:

1.) Please note this document represents an effort to coordinate geospatial efforts among Federal partners.   States and metro regions will need to develop their own Geospatial CONOPS to sort out relationships on those levels.  

2.) CONOPS are designed to facilitate cross-talk among agencies. Everyday nuts and bolts "operator type" instructions are normally passed along in "Standard Operating Procedures" or similar.  Two of the better ones in that regard are: 


3.) Don't get too comfortable with Version 4.0......word on the street is some good folks are working real hard to get Version 5.0 to press before the snow sticks.  In it, there is going to be some illuminating information.... 

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