Virtual USA® : Advancing Intergovernmental SituationalIntergovernmental Situational

Awareness, Information Sharing and Collaboration

B i fi t th ESRI F d l U C fBriefing to the ESRI Federal Users ConferenceFebruary 24, 2012M C lMarc CaplanChief, Innovative Technology ProgramsFirst Responders GroupDepartment of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate

Data Sharing Mission Mission Statement: Provide localities, tribes, states, Federal agencies, and private partners with common information-sharing capabilities built on a robust, expandable, open architecture and supported by a user-driven governance structure that ensures growth and stability over time.

Addresses barriers to information sharing through creating common

standards and using open-source solutions and technologies

Creates appropriate governance mechanisms, agreements, and

implementation guides to support information-sharing system across all levels

of government

Establishes partnerships across localities tribes states Federal agenciesEstablishes partnerships across localities, tribes, states, Federal agencies,

and private partners to provide access to the operational prototypes

Supports user participation and training to achieve regular use during all

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types of emergency response

Virtual USA®

• Virtual USA® (vUSA) is a tool that enables information sharing across jurisdictional boundaries through j gexisting and emerging technologies.

• Information commonly shared amongst vUSA partners, known as data layers, include: road closures, hospital status, aerial images, and more.

• Conceived, developed, and field-tested by emergency responders, four principles guided the creation ofprinciples guided the creation of vUSA:• Improve sharing and collaboration at

all government levels

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all government levels• Build on existing investments• Maintain data ownership• Partner to ensure resiliency

Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS) -- Formerly The Lincoln Distributed Disaster Response System (LDDRS) --

• NICS is an online incident map that provides timely situational awareness to boots on the ground responders of every agencyagency.

• More than a map, it is virtual whiteboard where responders team up, pool resources, and plot strategies.

• How it works:• During an incident, NICS manages and

distributes real-time feeds of vehicle locations airborne images videolocations, airborne images, video, weather, critical infrastructure, and terrain

• Feeds are integrated as selectable layers onto a map using geographicallayers onto a map using geographical information system

• Responders can mark up the map or type a message on the whiteboard b l it d th f d il bl

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below it, and the feeds are available for external tools to promote interoperability.

Virtual USA® Gen IV Prototype Information-Sharing Demo

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The DHS logo icon activates the Virtual USA Library widget (currently for Flex 2.2 and 2.3). This widget is intended to be installed in an organization’s own viewer

(e.g. Virginia’s VIPER) to access data feeds from the vUSA library.

Virtual USA®

Next Steps:

Revisit code base to upgrade from prototype to operational system Build SOA so both vUSA and NICS can leverage services (data,

ICAM etc)ICAM, etc) Enhance vUSA functionality (app and widget) via vUSA Pilot

feedback Build other platform widgets (e g Google JavaScript Silverlight) Build other platform widgets (e.g. Google, JavaScript, Silverlight) Continue transition partner efforts Ensure integration with other federated nodes and systems

(e.g. NCR GDX, GIS Inventory, etc.)

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