The April 27The April 27thth 2011 Tornados in 2011 Tornados inThe City of TuscaloosaThe City of Tuscaloosa

Jeff Motz, GISP, CGCIOGIS Manager

City of Tuscaloosa

City of TuscaloosaCity of Tuscaloosa

• County seat of Tuscaloosa County

• Home of The University of Alabama

• Home of Mercedes Benz

Tuscaloosa GIS before the stormTuscaloosa GIS before the storm

• The City of Tuscaloosa - 1,300 employees• GIS efforts evolved from CADD work• Growing popularity of GIS, especially web-

based application• Distributed responsibility of data updates• GIS Division a part of Information

Technology Department

Incident Command SystemIncident Command System

standardized, on-scene, all-hazards incident management approach that:

•Allows for the integration of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure.•Enables a coordinated response among various jurisdictions and functional agencies, both public and private.•Establishes common processes for planning and managing resources.

Emergency Management InstituteEmergency Management Institute

Incident Command SystemIncident Command System

Gaining ExperienceGaining Experience

Trained using NIMS at non-emergency events

• College football games• Concerts• Triathlon• Airshows

The Blizzard of 2011The Blizzard of 2011

The April 15th Tornado

The “Sugarland”

Tornado

The Morning of the Storm

Storm Damage

DESTROYED:•EMA•Fire Station 4•Police East Precinct•Environmental Services Dept.•Salvation Army• Red Cross

Richard M. Curry BuildingEMA/Environmental Services

Incident Command CenterIncident Command Center

……a little help from my friends.a little help from my friends.

Overwhelming GIS needs•Immediate•Short Term•Long Term

Keith Cooke, EsriKeith Cooke, Esri

Karyn Tareen, GeoCoveKaryn Tareen, GeoCove

Assess-Report-Map: How a GIS tool was used for Tuscaloosa's Damage Assessment

AgendaAgenda

• Where We Started

• What We Did

• What Went Right

• What We Learned

Where we started..Where we started..

GIS Data◦ArcGIS Server tiled mapservices◦Addressing◦ArcSDE / ArcGIS Server inside the firewall

Hardware◦Esri / Geocove Personal devices (5) ◦Loaned devices

What we didWhat we did

Round 1•Installed Esri software in DMZ•Loaded damage assessment schema and base data•Built deployment packages

Round 2++•Setup COP Viewer / reporting tool•Added more data to deployment packages

Screenshot of Round 2 Field App (note, basemap is still available)

Screenshot of Round 3 Field AppAddition of post Tornado Imagery

ResultsResults

4207 Residential Structures

$172,150,420 in residential loss

Assessments automated in 5 days

Incident Commander assigned ‘whatever you need’ resources to GIS Manager to complete process using tool

What Went RightWhat Went Right

Referencing Existing Data

COP

Photos

‘Automation’ of Assessments

What Could Have Been Better…What Could Have Been Better…

PROCESS

Assessment Grids◦ Deploy immediately

Hardware provisioning

Training

Process, Process, ProcessProcess, Process, Process Who

◦ Multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional◦ Volunteers

What◦ Windshield assessments

Safety / Damage / Both◦ Worksheet assessments◦ Public Health◦ Search and Rescue

When◦ Windshield vs. Worksheets

Concurrent vs. consecutive

How◦ Consider hardware

Tool ConsiderationsTool Considerations

Typing?How many clicks?GIS based / no integration“Sometimes connected”Open development environment / fat finger buttons!Feed the COPReporting?

ContactContact

Copyright 2011 Geocove, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karyn Tareenktareen@geocove.com

800-614-9850 x 701

Visit us at Esri/Geocove booth in Exhibit Hall

Some of life’s best lessons are Some of life’s best lessons are learned at the worst times.learned at the worst times.

Software – ELA worth the priceSoftware – ELA worth the price• Tier one is for towns and counties with

populations up to 25,000.• Tier two is for cities and counties with

populations between 25,001 and 50,000.

• Tier three is for cities and counties with populations between 50,001 and 100,000

Hardware/Network Hardware/Network

• WiFi unreliable• Prepare with drills and exercises• Laptops, Tablets ready to deploy• Hardcopies sometimes the best solution

ManagementManagement

Be ready to accept help when offered

Data

LeadershipLeadership

Learn from other people’s Learn from other people’s mistakes; you won’t live mistakes; you won’t live

long enough to make long enough to make them all yourself.them all yourself.