Situational Awareness/COP

Whether you are an incident commander, firefighter, paramedic, emergency manager, law enforcement officer, or homeland security professional, having the right knowledge about the right place at the right time is essential to perform your mission safely and effectively. This is commonly known as situational awareness [PDF].

Situational awareness allows you to

• Know and understand what is happening around you.
• Predict how events will change with time.
• Understand the dynamics of your environment.

GIS is an essential technology for providing public safety personnel with enhanced situational awareness. Data and information stored or hyperlinked via a geodatabase provide actionable information in the context of a map. The key to providing enhanced situational awareness is acquiring, processing, and presenting geographically represented data without having to search for it. The information should be contextualized and relevant based on your mission and workflow and the tasks you perform.

GIS provides the capability for data to be georeferenced. It enhances the user’s ability to understand, react, and make decisions based on a set of circumstances presented in a geographic context. GIS technology integrated with sensors, GPS and location tracking, enterprise applications, and networking can provide the contextual computing processing required for effective decision making.

GIS supports situational awareness by

• Providing a geographic context of the situation through a map
• Accessing dynamic data fields from sensors, cameras, and other devices with real- or near real-time data.
• Leveraging geographic analysis data developed during planning for operational use and more refined perception

For more information on how GIS technology is used to create public safety situational awareness, you can download Public Safety and Homeland Security Situational Awareness [White Paper].

Also see ArcGIS Situational Awareness Bundle [PDF].