GPS World

Tag: emergency

  • Concept3D’s night map feature supports campus security

    A new night map integration feature is available for all Concept3D maps. The toggle-on map overlay is designed to enhance campus safety and security by making it easy to find the best, well-lit routes and critical resources such as emergency phones.

    The Concept3D interactive mapping platform is used by hundreds of major universities, colleges and schools, as well as convention centers, hospitals, resorts, retirement communities, data centers and businesses.

    The night map feature offers all of these clients a way to provide their audiences with important safety and security information for visiting and navigating the campus at night.

    The University of Denver, Boise State University, and Pacific Lutheran University are the first to integrate this feature into their Concept3D-powered interactive campus maps.

    The night map of the campus of Boise State University. (Image: Concept3D)
    The night map of the campus of Boise State University. (Image: Concept3D)

    Boise State University is using the new night map feature to highlight Public Safety Dispatch Centers, Emergency Blue Light and Refugee Phones and locations of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Each item has a display box that further explain the exact location of the service and additional information.

    Pacific Lutheran uses the night map to display campus AEDs, emergency telephones, and its safety building.

    Colleges and universities that participate in federal Title IV student financial assistance programs must comply with the Clery Act, which requires annual security reporting, details and geographic information about crimes committed on campus and on public areas immediately adjacent to the campus, and timely warnings and emergency notifications, among other requirements.

  • Hurricane Irma prep gets boost from Esri resource catalog

    Hurricane Irma prep gets boost from Esri resource catalog

    Esri has published a Hurricane Irma Resource Catalog in advance of the Category 4 hurricane cutting through the Caribbean islands on its path toward Florida.

    The catalog features read-to-use applications compiled by the Esri Disaster Response Program (EDRP). EDRP is an around-the-clock service that helps with monitoring events online, discovering useful content, augmenting software and obtaining assistance from Esri experts.

    To see the track of the hurricane, Esri provides its hurricane map.

    Resources include:

    • Hurricane Public Information Map (PIM)
    • Hurricane Impact Summary
    • Hurricane Force Wind Impact Summary
    • Storm Surge and Flooding
    • Storm Surge Inundation
    • Hurricane Evacuation Zones
    • Waze Alerts – Hurricane Irma
    • Florida 511 – Real-Time Traffic Information
    • Hurricane Irma Photo Story Map
    • Airport and Port Status
    • NOAA Real-Time Coastal Observations
    • Florida Division of Emergency Management Open Data
    Waze alerts light up Florida highways as people evacuate. (Image: Esri)
  • After the storm: Drone flights enable speedy cellular inspections

    After the storm: Drone flights enable speedy cellular inspections

    verizon-inspection-w
    Hurricane Matthew, which formed Sept. 28 and dissipated Oct. 10, brought torrential rains to the Carolinas, causing widespread flooding. The above is a screenshot from a drone inspection video.

    In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, Verizon used drones for cell-site inspections in North Carolina and South Carolina. The aerial survey shortened cell-site recovery to hours compared to potentially days, based on the severity of flooding.

    The quadcopter used was operated by Measure UAS, which conducted the flights with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization.

    Flights used a two-person crew that included a ground pilot for the UAS, and a visual observer of the operation for safe, legal and insured operations, Verizon said.

    While Verizon was able to access most hurricane-affected sites quickly to assess damage, some sites were not accessible because of extreme flooding. That’s where the UAS came in.

    Streaming in HD

    The UAS was able to livestream and record high-definition video and high-resolution photographs of a cell site.

    The first flight to a site surrounded by water near Elm City, North Carolina, and the Tar River Reservoir showed engineers that the base-station equipment — which was elevated on stilts — was not underwater and had not suffered visible damage.

    After determining the site was safe to access, Verizon’s Network team secured an air boat and refueled the generator, bringing the site back into service within hours.

    Verizon completed successful cell site inspection trials earlier this year in New Jersey providing valuable 3D imagery and system performance data via UAS.Now the company has several vendors to aid Verizon’s network maintenance and operations.
    airborne service

    In October, Verizon conducted the first trial with Verizon’s Airborne LTE Operations during an emergency management and disaster recovery exercise in Cape May, New Jersey.

    The exercise simulated how Verizon’s network could provide 4G LTE coverage from a 17-foot wingspan UAS operated by American Aerospace Technologies (AATI) to first responders in an area impacted by a severe weather event where no wireless service is available.

    While this is the first simulation in an emergency scenario, AATI and Verizon are conducting trials nationally testing connectivity between manned and unmanned aircraft and Verizon’s 4G LTE network, including in-flight connectivity.

  • Everbridge Adds Mobile, GIS Enhancements to Unified Critical Communication Suite

    Everbridge has launched a Summer Release of its Unified Critical Communication Suite with new mobile, GIS, and expanded alerting enhancements that enable Everbridge customers to deliver unified critical communications and situational intelligence within the context of their recipient’s needs, roles, and locations.

    As enterprise mobility, BYOD, and other unified communications drivers continue to converge in an increasingly global, yet unpredictable world, organizations deploy Everbridge’s Unified Critical Communication Suite to respond and collaborate during both emergency and operational incidents, the company said.

    The latest release expands upon the recently launched spring release, offering new features designed to unify multi-modal, critical communications for diverse industries, including corporations, state and local government, healthcare, financial services, and higher education. The summer release includes new updates to Everbridge’s recently unveiled IT Alerting solution — specifically designed for IT Operations teams to improve communications and collaboration during incidents, resolving issues faster, and maximizing IT system uptime.

    Additional upgrades to the summer release include:

    PrecisionGIS: Everbridge’s rich GIS functionality now includes three new map-based targeting capabilities:

    • Geofencing: This new feature enables users to draw simple or multiple complex polygons to define boundaries and control the behavior of addresses located inside or outside the “fence.”
    • Custom Base Maps: Everbridge supports commercial mapping applications, including Google, Bing and ESRI, and now enables organizations to overcome existing gaps with commercial maps by customizing the base map used within the Everbridge suite. The base maps can include the geographical or infrastructure information users need to make more informed decisions when preparing and targeting a message.
    • Point-Address Geo-Coding: Users can now manage and provision all addresses down to the parcel level to ensure the data is accurate and precise enough for critical communications. This enables an advanced level of custom and granular geocoding capabilities beyond what is available via commercial geo-coding applications.

    Rich Text Formatting: The Everbridge suite provides enhanced rich text formatting support for email, enabling users to send the right message to the right contact path. Users can now deliver full-featured, unique messages, including entire web pages without modification, optimized for Phone, SMS, Email, and Push Notification contact paths.

    Mobile Enhancements: New mobile device registration simplifies user access and improves Mobile Member opt-in. New enhancements also include “silent mode” override for Android mobile devices to ensure that critical messages get delivered at all times.

    On-the-Go Alerting: This new partner functionality enables users to create and transmit customized alert messages directly from an iPad application. Users can draw affected areas directly on a map, while sending and receiving notifications through IPAWS communications channels.

    On-Call Scheduling: Everbridge now provides robust on-call scheduling to automate outreach to on-call teams with rotating coverage or complex shift changes. Seamlessly integrated with Everbridge notifications, on-call scheduling eliminates the need for manual call lists and handwritten calendars.

    “The new enhancements to our summer release reflect our continuing commitment to product investment and innovation,” said Imad Mouline, CTO of Everbridge. “Our customers are confronted daily with new challenges and opportunities related to mobility, business continuity, emergency notification, secure messaging, and more. We will continue to evolve our suite to meet these challenges—unifying critical communications across modalities and devices on a global scale.”