Shared Maps assisting emergency management

Quickly and effectively managing a natural disaster which crosses state boundaries has been a stumbling block for emergency management agencies in the past. Social Change Online has recently been involved in the Spatial Data Interoperability Project (SIDP). The Australian roadshow of the SIDP Project has demonstrated the wide-reaching benefits of sharing spatial (mapping) data, such as the ability to quickly and effectively manage a large bushfire crossing state boundaries.

Scenarios demonstrated include:

1. the management of a large hailstorm from a insurance company's perspective (including potential threat assessment, proactive damage prevention, initial damage assessment, and impact analysis).
2. managing a large fire event across state boundaries and requiring the co-ordination of a large number of agencies and services.

The SIDP Roadshow has shown that the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) standards for sharing map, and other geographically related data, are now supported by all mainstream vendors, and able to be deployed in real-world applications. Social Change Online was actively involved in the development of these standards and pioneered their introduction into Australia. Online access to data is now emerging from key data providers such as the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia, as well as commercial data providers.

Social Change Online was a participant in the Project and contributed with the implementation of the company's WebMap Composer Map Portal Builder.

Online demonstrations of the project are available at www.sidp.com.au.

Social Change Online was a participant in the Project. The Project also showcased Social Change Online's WebMap Composer.

SIDP was funded by Ausindustry and additionally supported by in-kind contributions from Social Change Online, other private companies, and government agencies.