Participants will learn about building successful communication and data sharing between public safety and the infrastructure community during catastrophic events. In addition, this session will explain how to automate notifications for emergencies, including forest fires, that impact utilities.

Presenter(s):

- Misty Wise, South Carolina 811

In this session, participants took a deep dive into common virtual EOC workflows (such as ingesting geospatial information, creating automated workflows, setting up collaborative systems, etc.) and learned about best practices from the public and private sector.

Presenter(s):

- Justin Kates, City of Somerville, MA
- Cassandra Stelter, Exelixis
- Lucas McDonald, Emergency Operations, Walmart
- Kevin Kay, NAPSG Foundation

Part 1: Local, State, and Federal GIS staff explored an initiative to build a national comprehensive inventory of buildings and inform attribute requirements and future updates methods to incorporate high-quality local data. Part 2: FEMA and SLTT GIS partners joined to share resources, update region and local geospatial game plans, and codify methods for sharing and collaboration during an incident.

Presenter(s):

- FEMA and SLTT GIS Partners

This session is a technical class on Automation. Participants will learn various methods to automate tasks such as automatic replies and automatically run scripts and offline options.

Presenter(s):

- Adam Fackler, NAPSG Foundation

Take a deep dive into cartographic concepts and learn how map design, data, symbology, and audience can influence how people interact with and make sense of map information. How should evacuation polygons be colorized? How likely is it that the public will understand what the symbols mean on your map? How will internal and external stakeholders react to and understand the map design choices you make?

Presenter(s):

- Claudine Jaenichen, Design Network for Emergency Management
- Emily Meriam, Esri
- Lt. Chris Rogers, Kirkland Fire Department (WA)

Participants will get a background on the military’s successful history building and transmitting standard symbology, learn about a current initiative to incorporate NAPSG’s standardized incident symbology to support military and civilian interoperability during emergencies, practice using a symbology dictionary, and share ideas for future symbol requirements.

Presenter(s):

- Michael Epler, DISA
- Bill McGrane, Chairman, DISA
- Lt. Chris Rogers, Kirkland Fire Department (WA)

This was a full-day session dedicated to the people, processes, and technology utilized in Urban Search and Rescue (US&R). Field personnel and GIS staff that support US&R learned about common geospatial workflows for US&R, including field data collection, navigating the Search and Rescue Common Operating Platform (SARCOP), search coverage analysis, and utilization of post-event imagery.

Presenter(s):

- Jared Doke, NAPSG Foundation (Lead Facilitator)
- Paul Doherty, PhD, & Inti Bogari, FEMA
- Lt. Josh Pearcy, Oklahoma City Fire/OK-TF2
- Chad Council, MIT Lincoln Labs
- Chad Beam, MPA, SC Emergency Response Task Force

Learn the basics of data analytics and machine learning, view examples of how they are impacting emergency management today, and why the GIS community needs to pay attention to these emerging capabilities.

Presenter(s):

- Chris Vaughan, FEMA
- Catherine Bohn, GISP, Dewberry
- Paul Dean, Dewberry
- Sid Pandey, Dewberry

Hurricanes. Wildfires. Flooding. Extreme weather events never strike the same way twice, so now more than ever, it’s essential to utilize technology to plan and deliver the critical aid necessary to save lives, reduce suffering, protect property, and recover from natural disasters. In this session, we’ll discuss the impact artificial intelligence has on emergency preparedness and response, and how agencies today have mitigated threats by utilizing AI and GIS solutions.

Presenter(s):

- Joel Tetreault, Dataminr
- Mike Cox, Rescue, and EMS, Esri

Claudine Jaenichen, Professor at Chapman University, provided the day 1 keynote presentation. The keynote focused on providing the audience with best practices for public messaging and mapping products.

Presenter(s):

- Claudine Jaenichen, Design Network for Emergency Management (DNEM)

FEMA has an ambitious goal of providing geospatial damage assessments (GDA) within 72 hours of impact for all decision-makers, including their external partners. This session highlighted the process that FEMA has refined over recent incidents, and described the data inputs, machine learning, and applications developed to train analysts on conducting GDAs. FEMA Region VI further described their support to states in collecting damage assessments and sharing best practices from their state counterparts during recent disasters.

Presenter(s):

- Kimberly Stephens, FEMA Response Geospatial Office
- Rachelle Trollinger, FEMA Region VI

Rapid-fire introduction and overview of the National Water Model, Esri Living Atlas, #PhotoMappers, Tool for Emergency Management and Prioritizing Operations (TEMPO), and HERE Data.

Presenter(s):

Jeff Baranyi, Esri / James Nenaber, HERE Technologies / Erin Arkison, URISA's GISCorps / Katie Picchione, URISA's GISCorps / Garrett Tate, New Light Technologies / Whitney Flynn, FEMA Liaison to the National Water Center

This session provided an overview of how small communities across the country are challenged with minimal resources and budget. This session will host a collaborative discussion around simple solutions to geo-enable public safety to inform better decision making. We will look at simple tools and capabilities that can be implemented with little effort and how they make a difference.

Presenter(s):

- Tommy Hicks, NAPSG Foundation
- Mike Cox, Esri

Participants will learn about the technical approach to implementing data sharing with trusted interagency partners. Real-world examples were presented from Flagler County (FL) and from the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). Technical workflows for setting up and managing partnered collaborations were demonstrated. Finally, tips and tricks for coordinating before and during incidents in ArcGIS Online were presented.

Presenter(s):

- Darlene Pardiny, Flagler County Florida
- Melissa Ruiz, Texas Division of Emergency Management
- Jeff Baranyi, EM and Disaster Response, Esri
- Jared Doke, NAPSG Foundation