Question

the inability of differing emergency responders from various jurisdictions to communicate with each other has been a major problem. Even though the situation has improved over the last decade, problems still exist.

1. What do you think are the primary obstacles to completely solving this issue? (EXPLAIN IN DEPTH)
2. What do you think can be done to ensure that the differing responding agencies can at least communicate on a basic level during an emergency?(EXPLAIN IN DEPTH)

Answer 1

PRIMARY OBSTACLES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. LEVEL OF COORDINATION: Coordination is required at every level. We analyze coordination from a community (macro), agency (intermediate) and individual (micro) level.Multi-agency coordination typically deals with the coordination of various organizations, each with their own processes, information, applications and other technology.

2.DATA AND INFORMATION SHARING:In both intra and inter-agency interactions, information is considered a primary asset that needs to be produced, retrieved, processed, enriched, validated, consumed and/or distributed within the inter-agency network.A number of studies have found evidence of poor information sharing and coordination in inter-agency disaster response situations.Forwarding all the available information to every individual involved in the disaster response effort will result in a serious information overload.The unwillingness to share data is by no means universal, and many entities make their data free and easily accessible for use by the public .IT can be used to make sure that everyone receives the relevant information at the right time.

3.FOCUS ON GEOSPATIAL DATA AND TOOLS:Whatever the root cause of a disaster—terrorism, natural occurrences, or accident—the methods of preparing for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating the effects of such events, and ideally preventing reoccurrences, are based on a common approach: the collaborative and coordinated use of geospatial data and tools.Emergency managers and responders need rapid and reliable access to such content on demand.although data may be accessible, there may be questions related to their quality.

4. TECHNICAL INTEROPERABILITY:Technical interoperability is typically achieved by selecting and implementing the appropriate software and Internet standards, common content encodings for transmission, and so forth. The cases where different data formats are encountered in the field during response, it can still cause significant delays in developing useful geospatial products.

5.SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY:The enormous variety of ways of encoding geospatial data and the large number of classification schemes, vocabularies, terms, thesauri, and data definitions in use by data-producing agencies make it particularly challenging to process requests for geospatial information. Proper metadata can provide the foundation for semantic interoperability, by defining the meaning of each of the terms that underlie the data production process.

6.DATA SECURITY:Data security is a key element of any data-sharing effort in support of emergency management, and a mechanism that will protect and reassure the suppliers of data is therefore a core requirement. Guidelines defining appropriate levels of security for various kinds of data needed for emergency response have to be established and implemented.

7.OVERHEAD IMAGING:Disasters raise immediate questions about geographic extent or footprint, and about the intensity of impact within the footprint.Efficient use of overhead imagery during an emergency will depend on the availability of trained personnel at the emergency operations center itself or at a remote site in direct contact with the center.Communications are especially important because field personnel, especially those who know the area well, will have knowledge of significant benefit to experienced interpreters at a remote site. Overhead imagery is also valuable for developing response plans, planning and carrying out training exercises, and planning mitigation efforts.

8.EDUCATION,TRAINING:the lack of appropriate education and training in geospatial data and tools among emergency management personnel and a similar lack of education and training in emergency management among geospatial professionals exists at all levels.Geospatial data and tools must be a component of the in-service training offered to the current generation of emergency management professionals.

9.FUNDING ISSUES:funding is usually identified as a major barrier to effective use of data in preparing for and responding to disaster events.Financial mechanisms such as government-backed bonding authority for use by local governments, revolving loan programs, and other debt structures were suggested for use in a range of capital planning strategies. Financing would be dependent on the use of consensus standards for interoperability from recognized standards development organizations.

10.TOOLS FOR DATA EXPLOITATION:Visualization tools provide the opportunity to visualize features of the pre- and post-event world individually or simultaneously.Analysis tools include a wide range of models performing a hierarchy of functions, from models indicating impact area and expected severity (shaking or wind speed), to those showing expected damage (combining shaking or wind speed with geology and construction type), to models to determine evacuation routes based upon the road network and traffic flow.Decision support systems assist emergency and other managers in making the best decisions based upon conditions as they are known at a particular point in time.