Maps2Go: Drive-Thru GIS Disaster Mapping

aps2Go
Drive-Thru GIS Disaster Mapping
Joel Lawhead with NVision Solutions Inc. (http://www.nvs-inc.com) made this
presentation at the 2007 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Hurricane Katrina Lessons
Learned in GIS Conference on August 7.
“Maps to Go” is a simple concept developed by NVision in the aftermath of Katrina
to solve a specific problem first at the Hancock County Emergency Operations
Center and then at the FEMA Area Field Office in Biloxi where we still work today.
PROBLEM: Traditional GIS software and workflows involving data acquisition,
verification, map building, analysis, and publishing are not high-speed. Emergency
Operations are high-pressure and fast-paced. A team of experienced GIS analysts
working in an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will inevitably fall behind
demand, lose track of what has been created, and create redundant and
inconsistent products.
SOLUTION: NVision created a simple printed map request form to collect
information from a first responders including Name, Organization, Contact Info, Next
Deployment Time, Map Description, Map Size, and Justification (to analyze product
use). Requests were prioritized by a combination of deployment the requesting
organization and deployment time (i.e. the Incident Commander first, FEMA second,
volunteers third and then by how soon they are leaving the EOC). At night the
requests were tabulated and the top 20 maps requested were standardized, printed,
printed using a permanent marker with a highly visible number between 1 and 20
and then hung along the walls of the EOC.
1
Ground
Elevation (feet)
Katrina Surge Zone
-13 - 14
14 - 42
42 - 69
69 - 97
97 - 124
124 - 152
152 - 179
179 - 207
207 - 234
234 - 262
One third of Hancock County’s land mass was under water from Katrina’s surge.
The population concentration in the county was on the south end in the surge zone.
The devestation was widespread and the worst in recorded history. Hancock
County was the site of the first US Army Field Hospital deployed on American soil
(http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=17344). Hancock County
received immediate and long term assistance from Incident Management Teams
from all round the nation. The largest contingents came from Florida and Kansas.
2
Common Users
•
•
•
•
•
•
Volunteers
EOC Personnel
Police
Fire fighters
FEMA
MEMA
•
•
•
•
•
•
HazMat teams
Search and Rescue
USACE
MS Health Dept.
Citizens
Insurance Adjusters
The “Maps to Go” list does not reflect the variety of products NVision created for
people dealing with every aspect of the disaster.
3
Hancock County Maps2Go
1.
Bay St Louis Roads
(Old/New)
2. Waveland Roads
3. Diamondhead Roads
4. Kiln Roads
5. Pearlington Roads
6. Edwardsville Roads
7. Lakeshore Roads
8. Hancock Facilities
9. Hancock Facilities Zoomed
10. Hancock County ANSI D
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Hancock County Major Cities
Hancock County Inset
Hancock Points of Interest
Fire Districts
Flood zones
Map of MS
Reduction Sites
High Water Marks
Surge Model
Map Book
This was the original Maps2Go list. Eventually we added an underlying surge
polygon on the simple city street maps. We had access to lots of aerial imagery
but you will find we didn’t use it for products very often for several reasons:
1. Aerial and satellite images require lots of ink/toner to print and supplies were
limited.
2. Aerial images often distract from the actual useful data on the map.
3. We tried to make all of our maps high-contrast so they could be easily
photocopied without losing readability. Many responders had access to xerox
machines and could create copies of maps we handed them – unless they had
aerial photos.
Aerial photos were used mostly for politicians and others who were trying to tell the
story of the devastation across the country and when combined with ground
photos they told the story quite well.
4
Bay St Louis Roads (Old)
What is it?
• Road Map of Bay St Louis
• Original City Boundary
Who used it the most?
• Law Enforcement, building
inspectors, utility crews
volunteers
Bay Saint Louis, Waveland, and Diamondhead are Hancock’s largest cities and all
lie on the Coast. These simple 8.5x11 street maps help countless responders find
their way around. They also served as field data collection basemaps. We digitized
data marked on these maps showing well locations, gas leaks, water leaks, new
distribution points and more.
5
Bay St Louis Roads (New)
What is it?
• Road Map of Bay St
Louis
• New City Boundary
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors,
utility crews
volunteers
Shortly after the storm Bay Saint Louis annexed county property all they way up to
I-10. We kept both the new and the old map around as most of the relief work was
in the Bay St. Louis peninsula.
6
Waveland Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Waveland
• City Boundary
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors,
utility crews
volunteers
Bay Saint Louis is on a 30 foot bluff overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. At this
elevation the town received surge at 20+ feet above ground level in many places
and averaged 8 feet in most places. Waveland, MS adjoins Bay St. Louis however
it is not on the bluff and is virtually at sea level. Very few structures remained
standing in Waveland and even if they did there was little to salvage. Despite
Waveland’s small geographic area most of the custom maps coming out of the EOC
were focused on this town.
7
Diamondhead Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Diamondhead
• City Boundary
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors, utility
crews volunteers
Diamondhead is considered “high ground” in Hancock County with many locations
close to 90 feet above sea level. Around half the town received surge and the water
front area was decimated. Because of heavy personal losses among NVision’s staff
the entire company crammed into two houses for 6 months after the storm while
working at the EOC.
8
Kiln Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Kiln
• City Boundary
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building
inspectors, utility
crews volunteers
Kiln is located centrally in Hancock County and has a very small population. But
after the storm it became very busy as it was mostly out of the surge zone and
became the center of economic recovery as businesses with less damage were
able to come back online.
9
Pearlington Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Pearlington
• City Boundary
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors, utility
crews volunteers
The small community of Pearlington in west Hancock County on the Pearl River
was also heavily devastated. It is an unfamiliar area even to many Hancock County
residents.
10
Edwardsville Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Edwardsville
Area
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors, utility
crews volunteers
Where is “Edwardsville, Mississippi”?
The dense street map above was dubbed “Edwardsville” in the US Census Bureau’s
place names. The area is actually part of Bay Saint Louis but the original map was
made by a volunteer unfamiliar with the area going strictly by the place name data.
The name confused local relief workers because nobody had ever heard of the
place. But because of the high concentration of streets the map was kept separate
from the Bay St. Louis map because it was easier to read. Welcome to
Edwardsville.
11
Lakeshore Roads
What is it?
• Road Map of Lakeshore Area
Who used it the
most?
• Law Enforcement,
building inspectors, utility
crews volunteers
Lakeshore is another rural coastal community in Hancock County full of small dirt
roads which all had to be searched and then revisited routinely as part of recovery
operations. NVision staff often had to highlight roads, provide ground photos, and
detailed verbal directions to keep responders from getting lost.
12
Hancock Facilities
What is it?
• Facilities of Hancock County,
Including:
–
–
–
–
–
Shelters
EOC
PODS
Medical Services
Fuel Sites
Who used it?
• Volunteers, National Guard
• Distributed publicly to citizens to
provide them with information.
This map kept track of every relief and recovery-related feature which changed
often. Shelters were continually opening and closing as were points of distribution
and fuel sites. This map was updated twice daily to show where these resources
were relative to the Emergency Operations Center.
13
Hancock County ANSI D
What is it?
• Shows roads and cities of
Hancock County
• Dimensions: 22x34 inches
Who used it?
• FEMA, National Guard
• Planning
This was a basic county-wide wall map. Using a combination of software NVision
was able to label nearly every street and make it readable despite the maps large
scale. This map was used by incident team leaders to plan operations.
14
Hancock County Major Cities
What is it?
• Shows roads and cities of
Major Cities in Hancock
County
• Showed a majority of roads in
the densely populated areas
• Dimensions: 22x34 inches
Who used it?
• FEMA, National Guard
• EOC Planning
This map displays Hancock’s three major cities on one map which were most relief
operations were focused.
15
Hancock County Inset Cities
What is it?
• Shows roads and cities of
Major Cities in Hancock
County
• Zoomed in insets to show
cities
• Street Indexing for quick street
referenceing
Who used it?
• Everyone
• Planning
This map took longer to produce but provides a county map with a grid, an inset
map of every city, and a street index for every city in the county. This map proved
useful for inspectors and other long-term recovery personnel who had to visit every
property in the county.
16
Points of Interest
What is it?
• Points of Interest in Hancock
County
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
EOC
PODs
Debris Piles of Concern
Temp Housing
Police/Fire Stations
Hospitals
Etc…
Who used it?
• Planning
This map is the longer-term version of the “Hancock Facilities” map shown earlier
as things began to settle down. It is important to note that the Hancock Emergency
Operations Center was initially flooded during the storm. The EOC relocated to the
Hancock County High School at the Stennis Airport. When school went back into
session the EOC relocated to an old school building at Annunciation Catholic
Church in Kiln, MS. The church is allowing the EOC to stay through the 2007
Hurricane Season then they must find a new home.
17
Fire Districts
What is it?
• Fire Districts of Hancock
County
Who used it?
• Fire Marshall
• Fire Fighters
• Emergency 911
The locations of the Hancock County Fire Districts were lost in the storm and had to
be redrawn. Fire resources were very critically limited in the drought after the storm
and this map was critical for incoming fire crews to quickly protect the area as well
as distribute donated fire trucks and other emergency supplies. Fire teams are also
often the first responders to a variety of incidents including HazMat and other
medical emergencies. This map had so many different uses for coordinating first
responders it made the top 20.
18
Flood Zones
What is it?
• Flood Zones of Hancock
County
• Showed the different flood
zone types.
Who used it?
• Citizens
• Planning
• FEMA Repetitive Loss
This map shows the FEMA Q3 flood zones which became important for determining
safe areas as Hancock County began to rebuild. The county even examined
moving the county seat north from Bay St. Louis.
19
Map of MS
What is it?
• Map of Mississippi
• Index of Cities for quick
reference
• Interstates
Who used it?
• Volunteers and other official
from non local areas. Used on
their way homes, or to other
areas of disaster.
There was an absolute run on state maps of any kind in and near Mississippi as
thousands of relief workers flooded in. This standard transportation map by the MS
DOT was extremely helpful for large organizations like FEMA and the National
Guard who were coordinating resources statewide.
20
High Water Marks
What is it?
Who used it?
• High water marks of Gulf
Coast. Used early on to
estimate Water Marks of
certain areas.
• Planning
• damage estimate
This initial high watermark map produced by the Army Corps of Engineers was
printed by NVision over and over again for people working Coastwide and trying to
understand the magnitude of the damage.
21
Surge Model
What is it?
Who used it?
• Surge Model of Gulf Coast.
Used early on to estimate
property damage.
• Planning
• Damage estimates
This NOAA SLOSH model map was based on a model run from two days before
Katrina made landfall. It turned out to be highly accurate.
22