#MapSAR and Disaster Response in Australia

Well I am down here in Australia and enjoying my time meeting with Public Safety agencies around the Country. My first stop is in Sydney to meet with Esri Australia and some New South Wales personnel interested in using GIS and ArcGIS Online for Bushfires and Missing Person searches. Next stop is Melbourne for the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council meeting. Then on Friday I am headed to Brisbane for Ozri 2013 to meet with GIS users that support emergency management agencies in Australia.

Check out my map to stay updated!



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#RimFire in Yosemite continues to burn - highlighted on our US Wildfire Map

The Rim Fire continues to impact nearby communities, Yosemite National Park, and the San Francisco Power Utilities Commission. You can use this map to track updates on the fire and also see some of our maps that are available through the Esri Disaster Response Program website. For continuous updates from firefighters themselves, go to the CA-STF-Rim Fire forum thread on Wildlanfire.com. 

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The GIS Adventures of Marcus Kitchens: Hazus-MH integrated on ArcGIS Online (AGOL) Here ...

One of our Summer Interns just started his own blog.

The GIS Adventures of Marcus Kitchens: Hazus-MH integrated on ArcGIS Online (AGOL)
Here ...: Hazus-MH integrated on ArcGIS Online (AGOL)  Here are the Web Applications I created on AGOL showing analysis from a 7.8 Earthquake in So...

NAPSG & MapSAR Virtual Training: Wildland Search and Rescue

For more information and sign-up visit the NAPSG link directly: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e815v7w25372c4c4&llr=nplxpbdab

Saturday September 14, 2013 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
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Please join NAPSG Foundation and our partners at MapSAR for a special training session on the MapSAR geospatial tool set. Maps are at the core of any Search & Rescue operation.  MapSAR, a combination of maps and GIS technology, helps us to conduct operations so that search teams get out the door more quickly, find those who are lost, and bring them home safely.

Experienced SAR instructors, GIS specialists and NAPSG are excited to offer this no-cost training seminar to show how public safety can incorporate MapSAR geospatial technology into the public safety mission.  Take this opportunity to learn first-hand from SAR members who have successfully used MapSAR in the field to complete their mission.

The purpose of this training is to:

• ·        Introduce how SAR and other public safety operations can benefit from GIS.
• ·        Introduce the MapSAR software (a free download).
• ·        Learn how MapSAR can help with planning and mapping within ICS operations.

While MapSAR is designed for the wildland environment, this training session is not limited to wildland responders.  At NAPSG's recent Northeast Summit, MapSAR was successfully taught to a wide mix of public safety officials - including urban SAR, structural fire, and law enforcement personnel.

MapSAR, the movie!

Well, not really a movie. 

Today, Jon Pedder came down to Esri to start putting together short video clip tutorials for how to use MapSAR. He is breaking it down to short topics like "how to add base data to the map" or "how to plot a clue". We hope this will be a great series of videos to help you get started with MapSAR, help us provide updates to the training material, and engage the greater Public Safety GIS community. 

Stay tuned for how these videos will be released online and details regarding an online kick-off event with live Q&A.