New Tool Could Help Track Resources in Emergency

Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute have developed a new tool to help give emergency managers a better way to coordinate incident planning and allocate resources in the event of an emergency – in real time.

In an article on the Homeland1 website, Doug Page says the Institute developed the Geographic Tool for Visualization and Collaboration (GVTC) as a way to track the location and availability of resources such as hospitals, transportation equipment and water during emergencies.

“GTVC enables an easy, secure mechanism for sharing geographically oriented information regarding emergency response planning and response,” Kirk Pennywitt, a senior research engineer in GTRI’s Information Technology and Telecommunications Laboratory, told Page.

Pennywitt also told Page that the GTVC kit provides tools that let managers annotate maps of an area of interest using Department of Homeland Security-compliant symbology. It provides messaging and incident tracking that supply detailed text information about an event, and the system interfaces with resource databases and electronic alert systems to facilitate the search for and display of the closest resources.

Currently, GTVC is used to support the Georgia Office of Homeland Security and first responders in Georgia and is commercially licensed as a component of the National Emergency Management Network. It has been adopted by the Florida Department of Emergency Management, as well as other state and county agencies throughout the U.S.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-technology/GIS-Mapping-Software-Global- Geographic-Information-System/articles/401278-Caught-with-your-plans- down-New-GTVC-tool-could-help