Geo Tools for First Responders - SOTM US 2014 - Full Version

Geo Tools for First

Responders

Richard WeltySOTM-US 2014

1Sunday, April 13, 14

Relevant Typesof Geo Data

• Enhanced 911 Addressing for GPS

• Hydrant data (location)

• Hydrants on water systems (capacity)

• Dry Hydrants (lift, seasonal issues)

• Ponds, Streams

• Landing Zones for Medical Evacuation

• Hazmat

• PrePlan data


CAMEOfm

• from the EPA• PC based• need a laptop in the field• lots of interesting capabilities for

Hazmat in an aging format


Alternatives

• “Data Terminals”• Princeton Project• Active911.com• CAMEOfm• Others


Existing Data Terminals

• Fire Department terminals derived from long standing Police models

• Many functions require radio link to Dispatch

• GPS from commercial map data• Expensive


iPad/iPhone apps

• One from Princeton for iPad (student project)• Data in Cloud, needs Cell Service

• Active911 - Commercial App• Started as messaging app• GPS capabilities from Google Maps


How to Deliver

• The data is usually already “somewhere”

• County, City GIS departments• Often unwieldy

• One Capital District department used a rolodex in each truck for hydrant data

• Albany NY hydrant data on paper maps


OpenStreetMap Changes Things

• Project to build a free map of the world• Open Data project• A Wikipedia of maps, if you will


Project Inception

• Considering potential for Emergency Services Application since 2009

• Summer 2012 - realized the near term potential for a usable GPS map of Albany

• Digital Maps of US have common problems

• Urban Street grids have issues too


Common problem: old TIGER

Street Grids in Old Cities

Cortland Street Not Cortland Street


Commercial GPS Issues

• All digital maps of the US derived from Census Bureau TIGER data

• Lots of errors (much better recently)• Commercial map vendors fix lots of

errors, but not all of them


Commercial GPS Issues

• TIGER errors not fixed in less populated places

• Long delays in updates• Release schedules typically quarterly• Limited motivation to deal with issues

in less populated areas


Rensselaer bridge over RR tracks

OSM GPS Maps

• Potentially way better• Continuous updates• Apps usually offer opportunities for

consumers to pull/build current maps• Wiki - Errors can be fixed by users


OpenFireMap


Geo Data Assistant

• WiFi only Android Tablet (Nexus 7)• OsmAnd GPS application• Plugin to support Emergency response

specific features• Additional data may come from

elsewhere


Advantages To Approach

• Commodity Hardware • 32G Nexus 7 is $300 pretty much

everywhere• OsmAnd is Open Source• OpenStreetMap for base database• No major IT infrastructure

requirements


Internet/Cell Access not a requirement

• Poor to non-existent service in many rural areas

• Good tablets have more than enough storage to support application & data


Mutual Aid

• Primary use case (at least initially) is Mutual Aid

• Departments/Engine companies responding outside of their normal operational area

• Firefighters experience many problems responding out of area


addressing in large apartment complexeslack of knowledge about neighborhoodswater system issues - private hydrants, no way to determine capacity of hydrants

Out of Area Response

• Do not know neighborhoods• Do not know water system• Apartment Complexes• Private Hydrant systems


Extreme Mutual Aid

• 9/11• Hurricane Sandy


Hydrant Gallery


dry barrel - discuss featuresSteamer vs hose connectionscolor schemes contain no real information

Hydrant Gallery

• Wet Barrel• West coast• UCLA colors


Hydrant Gallery

• Wynantskill, NY

• AWWA color scheme

• Blue Caps & Bonnet

• Class AA Hydrant

• > 1500 GPM


capacity helpful, but you don’t know the capacity until you see the hydrant

AWWA Classification

Class Flow (@ 20PSI) Cap & Bonnet Color

AA More than 1500 GPM Blue

A Between 1500 GPM and 1000 GPM Green

B Between 1000 GPM and 500 GPM Yellow

C Less than 500 GPM Red


distinguish between static (head) pressure and pressure while operating hydrant

Capacity

• Why is capacity important?• Big fire, need lots of capacity• Drawdown of water in main can

damage appliances in residences (notably hot water heaters)

• Risk of main collapse


Hydrant Gallery

• Bethlehem, NY• Green = large main• Orange = medium

main• Red = small main


Hydrant Gallery

• Tag on Steamer connection instead of paint for flow capacity


problem with painters

Hydrant Gallery


no Steamer connection on left, only steamer connection on right

Snow

• “If I have to dig one out of the snow it better be a good one”


Out of Service

• Not all Hydrants are operational


Out of Service


can’t see out of service condition until you see the hydrant

Out of service(But it’s a secret)

• NYC “Stubby” hydrant

• High pressure system operated from ca 1905 through 1979

• Stubby hydrants still around in NYC


reference extreme mutual aid

Is this a hydrant?

• Rural VFD, no pressurized water system

• Lawn Ornament


Hydrant Gallery


Sources: ponds, lakes, streamsseasonal issues, lift

Dry Hydrant, but...


water source is higher than hydrant

Wrench Types


also apparently triangular and conventional hex heads

Hydrant Display


OsmAnd+ screenshot

Building Footprints


Color Code extension


color code for capacityUse case: observing hydrant capacity while riding in to the scene, stopping tostart laying hose on the way in

OSM Tagging

• Some current tags• emergency=fire_hydrant

• fire_hydrant:type={pillar,pond,underground}

• colour={red,yellow,green,blue,...}

• diameter=12 inches


pillar - used in Germany, correct in US usage but not common. not used in UK.diameter - main diameterpressure - in bar (head pressure?), not relevant to US operating practicepond - inappropriate conflation

Tagging Issue

• fire_hydrant:type conflates physical type of hydrant and water source• pillar vs pond


Tagging Issue

• Add new tag• fire_hydrant:water_source={pond,stream,main}

• evolve fire_hydrant:type values• retain pillar,underground

• deprecate pond

• add pipe, dry_barrel, wet_barrel


Capacity Tags

• Proposed, not currently official• fire_hydrant:capacity=700 GPM

• fire_hydrant:class={AA,A,B,C}

• fire_hydrant:water_source={main,pond,stream}

• Capacity on streams?


LPM for non-US jurisdictions

Additional Tags

• More proposed tags• color:reflective={white,blue,yellow}

• color:bonnet={red,blue,green,white,...}

• color:cap={red,blue,green,orange,white}

• color:cap=grey;yellow

• in_service={yes,no}


Examples

emergency=fire_hydrantfire_hydrant:type=dry_barrelfire_hydrant:water_source=maincolour=yellowcolour:cap=bluecolour:bonnet=blue

emergency=fire_hydrantfire_hydrant:type=pipefire_hydrant:water_source=pondcolour=redcolour:reflective=white


Other Properties

• Outlet sizes, threads• Wrench type and size

• triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal


• Orientation

• Steamer valve perpendicular to curb vs 45 degree angle

Orientation probably not that important

Dry Hydrant Tags

• Dry hydrant conditions• weeds• low water levels (winter)• lift


Landing Zones

• Landing Zones (Med Evac)• current tags that are relevant

• name• operator

• need to characterize additional information


don’t want to use the existing aviation tagging, as that is for general purpose landing facilities, not for emergency LZs

Hazmat Data

• In the US, this actually information of public record

• Probably not be appropriate in OSM• Candidate for private data store


Hazmat Use Cases

• Materials in building that’s on fire?• Materials in adjacent buildings• Plume direction/danger based on

prevailing winds• CAMEOfm capability that may be

easy to integrate• Potential interaction with GPS


Other Considerations

• Policy on overriding One Way, Turn Restrictions

• Do we need different maps for different classes of emergency vehicles?


Making It Happen

• Find a department or group of departments that wants to spend grant money on a pilot

• Need to control size, ambition of pilot


Making It Happen

• Need to complete TIGER review for pilot area

• Import E911 addresses (and building footprints whenever available)

• OsmAnd needs improvements to handling of US addresses

• Test, Test, Test


Test, Test, Test

• Select random addresses and verify that you arrive at the right place via a sensible route

• Replay actual calls from prior days• Simulate mutual aid by using prior calls

from different stations


Requirements for the Department

• Desktop or laptop to extract and build maps. Mac vs PC not important

• Need to train a few department staffers on the system• Figure out who the map geeks are

and train them


Private Data

• May need to support data that is not appropriate for OSM

• OsmAnd supports layers of data from elsewhere

• May want to extend in plugin• May need to provide a low cost support

service for departments


Emergency Services Plugin

• Add features to OsmAnd that aren’t needed for the general public

• Special handling for POIs of interest to emergency responders

• Hazmat support• popup dialogs on emergency services

features with additional information


Measure Success

• Response Times• How good is current response time

data?• How much data is enough to be valid?• Perception of users vs. hard data


Data Integrity

• Vandalism & Mistakes (OSM is a wiki project after all)

• Monitor changes to map• Only extract new GPS maps after

validating changes• Not a burden if you just stay on top of it


Indemnification

• OSM and its volunteers do not have resources to fight a lawsuit

• How do we protect them in a modern, lawsuit prone environment?


Contact Info

• primary: [email protected]• secondary: [email protected]• OSM: nfgusedautoparts• Twitter: @nfgusedautopart


mailto:[email protected]




Bonus Hydrant Image

• Dry Barrel• Valve at water main• Safety Flange

designed to fail• at grade level


Technology

Geo Tools for First Responders - SOTM US 2014 - Full Version