Accurate damage assessments are critical part of responding to an emergency. Good information about the extent of the damage allows key decision makers to prioritize relief effort, federal reimbursements, and build back after a major event. Mobile GIS allows field workers to access and collect accurate data on a hand held device. The data can be displayed on a map or in an easy to use form with drop down menus. In a connected environment workers can access information from and report data back to an operations center for real time updates as inspections are completed. In an off line environment they can synch the data when they return from the field. Either way, current and accurate information readily available for assessing the extent of damage, managing operations, and developing appropriate response actions.

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Crawl When an area is devastate by a large-scale event, GIS can be used to support rescue logistics, data collection, status updates and reporting. Paper maps that track locations reported by the field (and often converted from spreadsheets) show exactly where damage has occured and what was in that location before the emergency.	Walk Using mobile devices, Public Safety (GPS, Phone apps) can collect data, including photographs of damage and ebris. All this can be downloaded and synchronized with a GIS server. This facilitates a more automated and accurate assessment and provides efficiency for reassignment of emergency crews. It also supports accurate reporting of early damage estimates to all stakeholders and facilitates application for State and Federal Disaster Assistance.	Run Extending the mobile damage assessment in connected, semi-connected, and disconnected environments is the ultimate goal of using GIS for Damage Assessment. Very often, communications in large-scale disasters is compromised. GIS applications that run on mobile devices, dowload a basemap and incident information while they are at the Incident Command Post or en-route, and can still collect mapping, location, and photo information while disconnected are the key development task in this effort. Once the mobile device re-established connetivity, it synchronizes all of its information with a collaborative geodatabase that is supporting the information and damage assessment. Another key technology note here is that large-scale disasters are a ‘pick up game’, and a good mobile solution is one that supports most modern devices. The technical implication here is that the application is GIS-centric and works either as a disconnected web application (JavaScript/HTML5/CSS3) or a disconnected ‘native’ application (iOS, Android, Windows).  This does not constitute an endorsement by NAPSG for any company or product.
Example: Search Damage Assessment at ArcGIS Online	Example: ArcGIS Mobile Damage Assessment	Example: Arm360 Damage Assessment

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