Amy Sebring: On behalf of Avagene Moore and myself, welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum! In honor of GIS Day 2003, our topic today is "GIS Applications in Emergency Management: Contributing to Our Understanding of Hazards." Amy Sebring: First, before we go over a few instructions, I wish to welcome those viewing the session from the IAEM Conference in Orlando, Florida. Avagene is "on remote" from there today. Ava, would you like to say a few words? Avagene Moore: Thank you, Amy. Hello to you, Dr John Pine and all our EIIP Virtual Forum participants today! Avagene Moore: I am happy to be coming from the EMEX 2003 in Orlando, Florida. This is a huge successful part of the 2003 Annual Conference of the International Association of Emergency Managers. Avagene Moore: The number of exhibitors this year has doubled - we have 130 this year. Avagene Moore: There are about 700 people in attendance at the conference. It is lunchtime here in the EMEX 2003 Hall and a number of people are gathered to watch the Forum today. Avagene Moore: I am hoping they will participate and ask questions when we come to the Q&A portion of our program. Avagene Moore: And now back to you, Amy and John! Amy Sebring: Thanks Ava. Next, For the benefit of any first-timers, we will go over the order of business. We will begin today's session with a presentation, and then we will proceed to your questions. Amy Sebring: We will be using a few slides today, so when you see a blue link, you can click on it and a graphic will open in a new browser window. After the first one, you may need to find and bring the window to the top to view. Amy Sebring: We will pause to give you a few moments to load and view, but if you are on a slower connection, it may not be quite enough time. We will have the slides linked from the Background Page and the transcript later if you wish to review. Amy Sebring: We will provide further instructions just before we begin the Q&A section, but you may wish to jot down your questions or comments as we go along. Amy Sebring: Please do not send private messages to our speaker or the moderator, as we will be busy with the presentation. Amy Sebring: An edited transcript of today's session, including links to the slides, will be available by late this evening -- just check back on our home page or the background page. Amy Sebring: Now, I have the pleasure of introducing today's speaker, Dr. John Pine. Dr. Pine is the Director of the Disaster Science and Management Program in the Department of Environmental Studies at Louisiana State University. john pine: Welcome everyone to GIS Day!! It is a please to have the opportunity to join you and look at how GIS is impacting emergency management today and may impact us in the future... Amy Sebring: He is also a professor and conducts research on topics directly related to emergency management. Beyond pure research, he has provided leadership in implementing practical applications for emergency managers ... Amy Sebring: particularly in the area of emerging desktop technologies. I am told that he is the 'champion' of the HAZUS-MH program in the state of Louisiana, and has been instrumental in the recently-organized HAZUS Users Group, LOUHUG. Amy Sebring: Welcome John, and thank you for being with us today. I now turn the floor over to you to start us off please. john pine: Many thanks for the invitation - Looking forward to a good discussion . . john pine: Geographic Information Systems (Sciences) (GIS) has been making a significant contribution to the field of emergency management over the past ten years. Flood, earthquake and hurricane hazards have spurred the development and implementation ... john pine: of modeling and GIS applications for use by the emergency management community. The developments of GIS and modeling complement enhancements to computer resources from small portable computers to powerful desktop computers. john pine: As an illustration of more powerful GIS hazard applications, FEMA will be releasing their new HAZUS-MH (Hazards United States - Multi Hazards) program. As many of you know, this program will add: john pine: 1. Flood Hazards (Riverine and coastal flooding); 2. Wind hazards (associated with coastal storms); 3. Other hazards (such as the EPA and NOAA ALOHA air dispersion program) john pine: The first figure shows the opening screen from HAZUS-MH. Note the Earthquake - Wind and Flood on the left side of the image. The ARCGIS application allows you to manage "regions" which can be as large as four counties or a small as a few Census Tracts. Amy, slide 1 please. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/gisday03/slide01.htm john pine: The background picture for the slide is Grandfather MT. in TN. john pine: ESRI's ARCGIS (with Spatial Analysis) forms the basis for this powerful mapping and modeling application. HAZUS-MH takes advantage of current flooding, earthquake and other modeling efforts supported by the Corps of Engineers, NOAA, and EPA. john pine: It makes linking these hazard modeling programs to GIS hassle free and in one application. In the past, many of us have had to run the model and then import the model into a GIS application. john pine: HAZUS-MH illustrates how FEMA and other agencies have worked over the past few years to make modeling and mapping of hazards easier for the emergency management community. john pine: The next slide shows an image of East Baton Rouge Parish (county) and the DEM (digital elevation model) for the area. HAZUS-MH helps the user to define a study area and then go to the Internet to obtain required data for input in to the model. The DEM is a 30 meter resolution grid file. Amy, slide 2 please. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/gisday03/slide02.htm john pine: Along with developments in the GIS modeling and applications programs such as HAZUS-MH, public and private initiatives have made obtaining GIS data much easier. The DEM image shown in Figure #2 was obtained from a USGS Internet site. john pine: This site allows the user to define an area and then download many types of GIS data - FREE!!! Please take a look at http://seamless.usgs.gov , the National Map Seamless Data Distribution System from the USGS. john pine: By selecting the "View and Order Data Sets - United States Viewer" the user defines an area of interest and the type of data desired. Note at the bottom of the page there are links to specific data sets such as "Urban Areas High Resolution Orthoimagery (1 foot resolution color images - more to come on this). john pine: By developing the USGS National Map Seamless Data Distribution System site - USGS has made obtaining GIS data much easier and cost effective. Further, agencies such as FEMA have coordinated their initiatives making obtaining data for HAZUS-MH much easier than in the past. john pine: To stress the point of what USGS has done for us, the image shown in slide #2 was downloaded as one file from this USGS site. It is a combination of over 20 USGS DEM files. john pine: USGS has merged these DEM files and corrected any missing data. Further, the USGS has standardized their DEM data set to ensure that all elevations are the same across the United States. Our "hats are off" for the USGS for being a "data champion." john pine: The next slide shows two samples from the "Urban Areas High- Resolution Orthoimagery." Now you may not believe this, but the images on the USGS site are of Baton Rouge and the LSU campus. Note the Parker Coliseum (smaller image) in the lower left side of the larger image. Amy, slide 3 please. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/gisday03/slide03.htm john pine: These images have a resolution of 1 foot and area available for over 120 urban areas in the U.S. Since the image files are so large, we have to obtain the files on CD or DVD at a small cost. By the way, USGS charges us for the labor to make the CD and send it to us ... john pine: they are not charging us for the cost of the flight from which the images were obtained. john pine: These high-resolution images illustrate one of the key developments in GIS. They enhance our ability to characterize hazards and their impacts. john pine: HAZUS-MH and other GIS applications utilize high resolution images and DEM (LIDAR) files. Having high quality data is allowing the hazard models and mapping applications to more accurately characterize hazards and their impacts. john pine: Another development in GIS that is important to the emergency management community is the development of national hazards data sets. When you receive HAZUS-MH and open the "box," you will have some great data sets. john pine: The next slide shows a list of the data sets included for each state and county. Amy, slide 4 please. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/gisday03/slide04.htm john pine: HAZUS-MH includes the Census 2000 data at the Block level, EPA regulated sites (Hazardous Materials), utility systems (waste water, electric etc.), transportation systems (rail, port, bus facilities etc) .. john pine: high potential loss facilities (dams, nuclear power plans, and military installations), essential facilities (medical, police & fire, and schools), and a national building inventory. john pine: The building inventory data set is based on the Census Blocks and includes information on structures: 1. square footage by building type (residential, commercial, industrial, education, government); 2. building count by type of structure noted above; and 3. value of the structures by type. john pine: The data in the building inventory was prepared by Dunn and Bradstreet specifically for FEMA to use in HAZUS-MH. This data sets allows us to determine the potential impact of a hazard for a local community. john pine: HAZUS-MH also allows the user to add local data that more accurately reflects the characteristics of local building (base elevation and type of construction). This next slide provides a sample of the building inventory data set. The figure shows the count of structures by Census Block for different types of structures. Amy, slide 5 please. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/gisday03/slide05.htm john pine: There are many other GIS applications - other than HAZUS - but this illustrates the capabilities for our discussion. john pine: I wanted to make one final observation about GIS and emergency management. More local agencies, businesses, and non-profit agencies are using GIS. We need to reach out to other public agencies, private companies, and non-profits to enable them to help us obtain local data sets and use the outputs of our hazard modeling and mapping applications. john pine: LSU is working with other universities, state and local agencies and private companies to initiate a GIS - Hazards Website. . john pine: Take a look at this site and give us your suggestions. http://hazards.lsu.edu john pine: I am also working with a team of 6 folks to design a GIS Hazards / mapping college course. We will be having a focus group to initiate the project before the end of the year. john pine: Two FEW FINAL POINTS. . . . john pine: 1. FEMA has confirmed that the roll out of HAZUS-MH will be by the end of the year (2003). . . john pine: You can take a look at the capabilities of this multi-hazard utility on the FEMA web site.http://www.fema.gov/hazus/hz_index.shtm john pine: FEMA has identified a group of contacts for those of you who may have questions. See the list at: john pine: Note that FEMA has an extensive training schedule for HAZUS-MH in place. . . john pine: 2. I wanted to also make a few commendts on trends in GIS and emergency management . . john pine: a) It seems to me that our GIS programs are becoming more powerful. . john pine: b) higher resolution data sources are becomeing more available. . john pine: c) technology allows us to use GIS on PC Tablets and very small GPS units and other hand held units; and . . john pine: d) There will be more GIS courses associated with hazard and emergency management curriculums in our higher education programs. john pine: This concludes my overview, and I will be glad to address your questions and take your comments. Now, I will turn the session back over to our Moderator. Amy Sebring: Thank you very much John. Our protocol for audience questions is to enter a question mark ? to indicate you wish to ask a question or make a comment. Amy Sebring: Then go ahead and compose your question or comment to have it ready, but do NOT hit your Enter key or click on the Send button until you are recognized by name. Please WAIT your turn. Amy Sebring: We will take questions in the order the question marks are sent to the screen. One question at at time please. If you have a follow up, please get back on line with a ? Amy Sebring: There is a system limitation on length of one entry, so if necessary, you may need to break your question into parts. We are ready to begin now. Burt Wallrich: ? Amy Sebring: Bear with me as I seem to be having a little problem with my input today. Amy Sebring: Burt, whenever you are ready please. Avagene Moore: ? from Valerie Quigley Burt Wallrich: Do the Census data available through HAZUS-MH make it possible to pinpoint demographic information such as percent of population below poverty level in a specific part of an urban area? john pine: Burt: Good question - the Census 2000 data is very comprehensive. . john pine: We have the most accurate count on people by Census Block. . john pine: There are other types of information as you know that is available by either Block Group or Tract. Some of the data is only available by Tract. . john pine: Concerning the Below Poverty Level . . john pine: I would have to look at what level this type of data is provided . . john pine: In most cases this type of data is not available by Census Block. john pine: By the way . . Amy Sebring: Ava/Valerie next please. Avagene Moore: Are you familiar with any of the GIS modeling done with wildfire modeling programs? Avagene Moore: This is from Valerie. john pine: Valerie: the US Forest service does have some modeling programs that run on the PC. . john pine: One of my colleagues at LSU has a good program that allows us to model the fire / smoke from such an event. Amy Sebring: John, you were going to continue your response re Census data? john pine: I can provide the contact information on the program to Amy. Amy Sebring: Other questions, comments? john pine: I have a question for the gruop. Amy Sebring: You can put in your question mark at any time please. Amy Sebring: Go ahead please John. Avagene Moore: Valerie says thank you. john pine: Are any of you using the D.O.D. CATS program or the EPA / NOAA Marplot / Landview Programs? Amy Sebring: If you would like to respond, please put in a question mark. Amy Sebring: I have a question John ... Amy Sebring: you are very experienced with the hurricane hazard in Louisiana ... Amy Sebring: how well do you think the HAZUS model handles loss estimates for hurricane? john pine: The new HAZUS MH program will not deal with storm surge. . . john pine: It will only examine wind hazards associated with hurricanes . . john pine: The program is coming out with flood hazard modeling and coastal flooding but not storm surge. . . Mark Deutschman: ? john pine: There are two major efforts to describe storm surge . . Both work on very powerful computers such as "super mike" at LSU and others with the Corps of Engineers. Their outputs may be utilized in GIS systems. Amy Sebring: Mark next please. Mark Deutschman: What is the source of much of the GIS data and can it be accessed through a web mapping service? john pine: The USGS has excellent data sources as noted in the presentation. . john pine: ESRI and Intergraph both provide comprehensive data sets - take a look at the ESRI site for much of the TIGER data sets from the Census 2000 - http://www.esri.com Mark Deutschman: ? Amy Sebring: Other questions, comments? Amy Sebring: Go ahead please Mark. Mark Deutschman: But, these data need to be downloaded to your local client? Amy Sebring: ? john pine: I am not sure what you are looking for Mark . Karl Kpatakpa: Karl Kpatakpa? Do you know of Hazus-MH applications in the private sector? Mark Deutschman: ? Amy Sebring: Go ahead and respond Mark if you can clarify. Mark Deutschman: The RRBDIN site (www.rrbdin.org) capitilizes on new web mapping service specifications from the OGC. john pine: I have seen several private sector loss estimation models from the private sector - Karl - but they are for internal use by the Risk Management Community and not generally available to us. john pine: Thanks Mark for the site. Amy Sebring: John, how much general GIS background does a user need to effectively use HAZUS? It seems to me that the flood modelling is rather sophisticated? john pine: Good Question !!! - Its not just the GIS program that we need . . john pine: We need someone who understands hydrology as well as someone who understands community planning principles . . john pine: And then there is quire a learning curve in this new ESRI application for those who have been using ArcView. . john pine: We will all need a short refresher in ARCGIS. Mark Deutschman: ? Marg Olson: ? Amy Sebring: Mark, go ahead please. Mark Deutschman: Is the underlying model for river forecasting FLOODWAV? john pine: Mark - the HAZUS MH program uses two modeling efforts . . john pine: The most advanced is based on the Corps of Engineers - HECRAS - program. The other and more general flood modeling is based on a "river reach" effort. . john pine: The HAZUS Program needs good stream flood data for the "general" flood modeling and unfortunately this is not readily available in the US. . Amy Sebring: Marg next please. john pine: The program then uses statewide data. Marg Olson: Is this tool intended for pre-incident planning or disaster managament AFTER something happens? john pine: The HAZUS-MH is best used in "mitigation" / planning efforts. My impression is that "flood" forcasting is a completely different initiative. . . john pine: The U.S. Weather service has several models that use stream information to prepare flood forcasting messages shared with our communities. john pine: I suspect that FEMA would not want us to use this in a response to predict flooding. Amy Sebring: other questions/comments? please enter your question mark anytime. Amy Sebring: In the meantime ... Amy Sebring: John, what is your recommendations re getting a User Group going? john pine: Our group along the Gulf of Mexico has a common threat - Hurricanes . . john pine: I believe where a group has a common hazard, we can link our interest in learning how to utilize the new HAZUS MH software and its applications. . john pine: I suggest that if you are interested in being part of a user group that you contact your FEMA Regional office and talk with the hazard mitigation team. They can help!! Amy Sebring: (Please see http://www.hazus.org for further info on Users Groups) john pine: ? Amy Sebring: Go ahead please John. john pine: I am interested in knowing how our participants are using GIS in their agencies - planning / response / mitigation? other other applications. Amy Sebring: Yes folks, please jump in here if you are experienced in this. Avagene Moore: ? Amy Sebring: John, have you heard anything further about the Geospatial One-stop ? john pine: Not at this time Amy. Mark Deutschman: ? Joe Sukaskas: ? Amy Sebring: Avagene please. Avagene Moore: From Valerie: There is a group at Lawrence Livermore working on some pretty amazing fire modeling software using GIS maps ... Avagene Moore: ... They are trying to include the fire-making-its-own-weather phenomonen as well as characteristics of the material being consumed. john pine: Please have Valerie send me more information on their efforts and we will post this to the http://hazards.lsu.edu GIS web site. Avagene Moore: It runs on some gigantic computer at Los Alamos, I believe. Very interesting application. Amy Sebring: Mark next please. Mark Deutschman: I would recommend you look at the RRBDIN site (www.rrbdin.org). EIIP has been involved in this effort and it uses web mapping service for decision support. We are hoping to incorporate near-real time flood hazard prediction. Amy Sebring: (Thanks for the plug Mark) Avagene Moore: Valerie says she will do so. Thanks. Amy Sebring: Joe next please. Joe Sukaskas: In Maine, a GIS specialist has been added to the State Emergency Response Team to support the ERT by displaying data about an event underway. One issue we are still working is how to blend public data with confidential infrastructure data and making the result available to county EMAs without compromising sensitive data.. john pine: Good point Mark. john pine: Joe: I do understand that some our data sets are limited in the distribution. . john pine: We will need to ensure to our partners at the Fed / State and Local levels that we respect the limitations that are placed on the data. . I have one further comment on the Web mapping. . john pine: I see that many communities can use the Internet Web mapping for Intranet and Internet applications for emergencies. . john pine: This could be the fastest application area for emergency managers in the future. . john pine: Web mapping may also be linked to our models and have the experts run the models for our use. Amy Sebring: ? Amy Sebring: Following up on Joe's comment ... Amy Sebring: is there a role for State EM agencies, and if so what should it be? Amy Sebring: In terms of data. john pine: FEMA and other federal agencies have been the leaders in data distribution - however . . john pine: Many state agencies have been helping to develop localized data sets and then. . john pine: 911 communications districts , planning offices, and public works have been doing some great data development for local communities. john pine: There is action at all levels. The state needs to help coordinate the data dissemination. Amy Sebring: Thanks, I could not agree more ... Amy Sebring: any more questions or comments? Amy Sebring: If not, let's wrap up the formal part of our program ... Amy Sebring: but let's stick around for a little less formal discussion perhaps .... Amy Sebring: Thank you very much John for your time and effort. Please stand by a moment while we make some quick announcements .... Amy Sebring: If you are not currently on our mailing list, and would like to get program announcements and notices of transcript availability, please see the Subscribe link on our home page. Amy Sebring: Again, the transcript will be posted late tonight and you will be able to access it from our home page or the background page. Amy Sebring: If your organization is interested in becoming an EIIP Partner, please see the Partnership link on our home page. Amy Sebring: Thanks to everyone for participating today, including our guests from the IAEM conference. Say "Hi" to //Mickey for us! Amy Sebring: Our session is adjourned but before you go, please help me show our appreciation to John for a fine job.