Kanotech Information Systems Ltd.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE SUPPORT SYSTEM

That's what Kanotech's Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) can bring you. Control and Ability. Developed in association with Queens University & partially funded by the GeoInnovations 1999 Program, ERSS is the solution for Small Government, Municipal & Township Critical Data Management.

WHAT IS AN ERSS?

When an emergency occurs, be it an ice storm, a well or pipeline explosion, a fire, a flood, a chemical spill, or an earthquake, local emergency response staff require timely information on the location of residents, their demographics, their special needs (handicapped, life support systems, etc.) and their proximity to the emergency and/or support facilities. The ERSS is an interactive mapping Internet application that can be accessed on a computer via the INTERNET or internally within an office department on an INTRANET.

Kanotech's ERSS is very user-freindly, so operating the application is just point & click mouse operation. For visual reference, a Graphical Interface is what makes up most of the viewport on your screen. The Graphical Interface display is a visual map that displays an accurate depiction of a Township. The map can display everything from roads, land parcels, addresses, parks, and water systems. When the user clicks on a particular parcel, a window pops up that depicts information that may be crucial in an emergency situation. The old-fashioned paper-chase is no longer an issue as critical information is delivered instantly.

The Powerful Search tool allows users to search the Township database in seconds to retrieve valuable data. Printable notification reports are also a valuable tool within the ERSS. Reports are generated simply by selecting one or more areas on the map. The report, complete with Addresses & Ownership labels are instantly ready to print for mailout. The ERSS also has a powerful buffer system that lets the user choose a area on the map, and buffer out in Miles, Kilometers, Feet or Metres so that reports automatically can be sent out to only those within the selected buffer.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO IMPLEMENT AN ERSS?

 Smaller municipalities often do not have the resources to implement and maintain an Emergency Response Support System (ERSS). Therefore, municipalities need a system that can be supported and maintained by third parties ranging from planning consultants, to local surveyors and engineers and/or simple enough to encourage municipalities to retain or retrain their personnel to maintain the system. Furthermore, to ensure continuing financial support, such a system must be transparently integrated into the daily operations of a municipality and act as a building block for other applications.

Data availability is also a key constraint. Any ERSS must be tied to an address to be effective. A mapping/ Geographic Information System (GIS) that is capable of graphically displaying an address is an essential component of the system. In some cases, urban and rural governments will have complete parcel mapping. In others, only street centre lines will be available. In some, the only data that will be available will be satellite images. The system must be able to be effectively deployed regardless of the availability of graphical data.

In some urban and rural local governments, complete demographic data, tied directly to the property is readily available. In many cases, however, the enumeration data from Statistics Canada is the only source of data. Any ERSS, therefore, must be capable of integrating available demographic and graphic data regardless of the source. The ERSS, using distributed data from a variety of sources such as Statistics Canada and NTS, will provide emergency response support for small (populations ranging from 3,000 to 100,000) urban and rural governments.

 The screen images on the NEXT PAGE provide an overview of the capabilities of the ERSS. Some of the data contained within these screens has been modified to protect privacy. This is only a visual demonstration to show the types of data that can be displayed.

Project Title & Target Area	An Emergency Response Support System
Project Objectives	The objective of this project was to design and develop a comprehensive, extensible Emergency Response Support System that could easily and cost-effectively be implemented in small- to medium-sized urban and rural municipalities.
Benefits -Technical and Business	Technical challenges: The proposed system relied on the ability to access data remotely and via the Internet for access to remote data. This concept was verified during the implementation process. The Town of Okotoks could maintain their data locally and could at the same time access pipeline and well site data remotely through a linked MapGuide server. The system was also premised on the integration of desktop and Internet technologies. Technical staff utilised COM compliant applications to enter and maintain data locally. As changes are made to the database, the application automatically updates end user displays who have remote Internet access. During an emergency, this permits information to be entered from a variety of sources and displayed over the Internet to all related parties in real time. From a business perspective, Kanotech is now actively marketing the solution North America wide. A North American channel has been established with co-operation from Autodesk Inc. It is believed that this solution will be actively sold with initial orders being received before June 2000. Potential clients are already identifying variations of the core product and we expect to see add-ons to the core product being deployed within the next 6 months.
Region	This project involved a Major portion of the County of Foothills, Alberta and specifically the Town of Okotoks, Alberta within the County, and the County of Hastings in Ontario. The application developed is applicable to any region of Canada and will be promoted and marketed to municipalities and counties across Canada and the USA.

Jobs Created	Other than the person months directly related to the completion of this contract 2 additional full time positions have been created to continue building, maintain and sustain the development of ERSS within the Partner operations. Ongoing work will be required to capture additional digital map data and attribute information to populate the ERSS data environment within the partner communities.
Communication Activities	Upon completion of this project in early spring 2000, Kanotech and the Queen’s Geographic Information Systems Laboratory plan to commercially offer this ERSS application and its inherent data structuring methodology for other small- to medium-sized urban and rural governments as a module linked to the CivicCenter PAM application. Kanotech has established a North America-wide dealer channel to market and support its CivicCenter software. Kanotech also receives direct marketing support from Autodesk Inc. By integrating the ERSS application into the CivicCenter architecture, many of the initial commercial problems related to establishing a market presence for the product have been eliminated. Kanotech has already begun development on a marketing site, illustrating the functionality of the ERSS application and its association with the CivicCenter application and the PAM module. This website can be viewed at: http://www.kanotech.com/home.htm Click on CIVICCENTER. In addition, Kanotech intends to demonstrate this application at a number of geomatics industry, municipal government and Emergency Response Administrators conferences across North America in the upcoming year. Kanotech, in conjunction with Queens University GIS Lab plan to sponsor a webnet conference specifically targeted to small to medium municipalities and emergency service organisations across North America. This forum has advantages where the participants who would not normally get to attend conferences of this type will be able to view the presentations from their local offices and yet be able to interact with the presenters. Presentations will be archived and made available on a continuing basis to potential end users and Kanotech’s Value Added Resellers (VAR’s) across North America.
Partnerships	This project is a co-operative venture between" Kanotech Information Systems Ltd., Queen’s University Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory, Town of Okotoks, Alberta, Hastings County, Ontario. The Town of Okotoks has been pleased with the outcome of this project, including the implementation of the information technology infrastructure to support further expansions and developments within this area. One of the key project outcomes was the transfer of knowledge and technical skills to the GIS operations group of the Town of Okotoks, who will now be able to carry the development of the application forward independently. As has been the case in the past, communities in Canada face an ever-present danger of dealing with disasters. In doing so, the Town of Okotoks is trying to prepare for these unfortunate incidents in a more timely and efficient manner. But the question remains – how can people be prepared for disasters? The Town of Okotoks now believes that GIS technology and the ERSS offer communities a better platform in which to address this kind of issue. The partnership with the Queen’s University GIS Lab and Kanotech Information Systems will fill a void faced by communities that must be prepared for disasters. In the immediate future, the databases for the ERSS will be populated further. In this project, it was important to test the concept of incorporating Canadian spatial data with local municipal data to provide extensive emergency response support planning capabilities. The Town of Okotoks successfully provided this project with a unique opportunity to test the methodology for fulfilling this requirement using Western Canada and Alberta data. Since this concept has been proven and implemented, the Town of Okotoks plans to integrate the ERSS into its current GIS operations for the municipality and expand upon the information contained within. In particular, data sources that were not forthcoming during the project (such as power line locations) will be collected by the municipality for integration into the ERSS. With time, as other emergency issues are identified, it is hoped that more emergency service providers, such as police and ambulance, will also integrate their data into this system. The Queen’s GIS Laboratory has been pursuing research initiatives in the area of the delivery of emergency services using distributed GIS systems which rely on intranet/Internet technology as a powerful dissemination tool for a number of years now. Participation in this project has strengthened the working relationships that the Queen’s GIS Laboratory has with Autodesk, Kanotech, and most importantly, small- to medium-sized municipalities. The Queen’s GIS Laboratory anticipates using its growing expertise in providing emergency service delivery using intranet/Internet geomatics technology in two main areas. First, the Queen’s GIS Laboratory plans to use this experience to develop teaching material used in the university level courses that they offer to students and community professionals. Specifically, there are four courses that will benefit from the experience that the Queen’s GIS Laboratory has gained through this project: GISQ 241 Computing in GIS – focuses on database design and management, data implementation, and report generation; this project will be used as a case study. GISQ 341 Developing a Distributed GIS – focuses on process of designing, building, and implementing intranet/Internet-based GIS and mapping applications; this project will be used as a case study. GISQ 351 Geomatics for Management – highlights the power, advantages, and importance of geomatics tools in decision-making; this project will complement a series of lectures on GIS in the emergency response support sector for planning, administration, and management. GISQ 361 Topics in GIS – presents students with the opportunity to interact with geomatics professionals involved in various sectors; this project will result in the potential for members of this GeoInnovations project to discuss emergency response support planning. The Queen’s GIS Laboratory will also use the expertise gained in this project to explore similar opportunities with other small- to medium-sized municipalities. As a result of this project, a potential opportunity has developed with Leeds and Grenville County in Ontario; there are plans to pursue this further.  Hastings County is in the process of continuing to populate the databases for the ERSS. In this project, it was important to test the concept of incorporating Canadian spatial data with local municipal data to provide extensive emergency response support planning capabilities; Hastings County provided a unique opportunity to test the methodology for fulfilling this requirement using eastern Canada and Ontario data. Since this concept is being successfully implemented under the continued supervision of the Queen’s GIS Lab, Hastings County plans to integrate the ERSS into its current GIS operations for the municipality and expand upon the information contained within. With time, as other emergency issues are identified, it is hoped that other emergency service providers, such as police, fire, and ambulance, will also integrate their data into this system.
Technologies Utilized	Key components of the technological endeavour include Autodesk’s MapGuide Author & Server, AutoCAD Map, Allaire ColdFusion, Visual Basic, MS Access, Internet Information Server (ISS), NT Server, VBScript, JavaScript, and Kanotech’s SpatialistÔ - Property Application Module (PAM) data environment.
Interoperability	The proposed system relied on the ability to access data remotely and via the Internet for access to remote data. This concept was verified during the implementation process. The Town of Okotoks could maintain their data locally and could at the same time access pipeline and well site data remotely through a linked MapGuide server. The system was also premised on the integration of desktop and Internet technologies. Technical staff utilize COM compliant applications to enter and maintain data locally. As changes are made to the database, the application automatically updates end user displays who have remote Internet access. During an emergency, this permits information to be entered from a variety of sources and displayed over the Internet to all related parties in real time.
Objectives	Kanotech, the Queen’s GIS Laboratory, the Town of Okotoks, and Hastings County are very pleased with the outcome and the success of this project. The deliverables reiterated below were met and surpassed expectations of the clients, the contractor, and the sub-contractor: an operational interactive map-based application located on the clients’ intranet sites that can be accessed by municipal emergency response decision makers, allowing them to generate thematic maps and reports based on queries; this application is ready for commercial use and transfer to other municipalities, counties, and agencies that specialise in emergency response support, planning, and delivery. technology and knowledge transfer from Kanotech and its subcontractor, the Queen’s University Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory to the clients; the technical personnel at the clients’ offices will be able to operate, modify and extend the software independently. training for the end-users on how to use the application and integrate their existing and future data holdings into such a system in order that it may be expanded upon. The combination of Kanotech's proven software architecture, the knowledge provided by the Town of Okotok's staff, the application development expertise of the Queen’s GIS Lab, and the resources that the County of Hastings staff dedicated to test the ERSS application provided a team that ensured that the application address the specific needs of non-technical users in small- to medium-sized urban and rural municipalities. This section discusses the major successes of the project. Mapping-based Emergency Response Support Planning Tool - The project resulted in the creation of a fully operational ERSS application which has been de-bugged and is in current use by both clients as part of their GIS installation. The technologies used were integrated seamlessly into the existing information technology infrastructure and architecture. The technology can be easily transferred to other small- to medium-sized municipalities. Strong Business Relationship - A strong working relationship developed between the clients, the Queen’s GIS Laboratory, and Kanotech during the project which contributed to its overall success. All parties maintained regular phone and e-mail contact throughout the duration of the project. The technical team, consisting of members of Kanotech, the Queen’s GIS Laboratory, the Town of Okotoks, and Hastings County met in person on a number of occasions throughout each phase of the project; regular emails were exchanged on a weekly basis. A team-oriented approach to developing the application and problem-solving during the development phases aided in knowledge transfer and training and ensured continued hands-on learning and experience. Technical Training and Knowledge Transfer - The clients’ technical teams now have experience in MapGuide Author and Server, VBScript, JavaScript, and CivicCenter architecture, which give the clients the skills and expertise to continue to develop the functionality of the application and add additional databases beyond the timeline of the project. The methodology for obtaining data from various sites, cleaning it up, and integrating it into the system was also transferred. Client Satisfaction - The emergency response support planners, who have seen the system and what it can do to identify various issues during an emergency, are enthusiastic about what the system can do to help them plan in the event of an emergency. This enthusiasm has already lead to discussions of adding other functionality to the application such as the digitizing of attribute data directly into the databases and linking this system to a dispatch application. This section discusses the difficulties encountered in this project. Accessing Statistics Canada Street Centerline Data - The project had anticipated incorporating street centerline data from Statistics Canada into the base mapping for the Town of Okotoks and its surrounding rural region. However, upon accessing the street centerline data for Alberta, it was discovered that street centerlines are only provided for major urban areas; hence, data was not available for the town nor the adjoining MD of Foothills region. Improving Data Sharing Arrangements with Other Agencies - The project area for the Town of Okotoks encompasses a portion of the MD of Foothills. It had been anticipated that the MD would be prepared to make their digital mapping and assessment data available to the project – this did not occur. Also, confirmation to access various sources of private data, such as Telus, TransAlta, and Atco Gas, was not granted for this project. While these data shortcomings did not diminish the usefulness of the ERSS, it is important to realize that these difficulties are part of the project process and were recognized in the proposal submitted to the contracting authority. With time, if it is decided that more detailed information is required for the Town of Okotoks’ fire district, the rural data may be augmented with air photos or satellite imagery from the IKONOS satellite that was launched in September 1999.
Follow-on Activities	Both Partner communities, The Town of Okotoks and Hastings County, are committed to a continuing relationship with Kanotech and Queen’s with the objective of continuing to build and enhance their GIS operations. Kanotech is committed to its long-term objectives of building a much stronger and capable Value Added Reseller network across North America. Queens GIS Lab will use the ERSS environment as part of the teaching tools within their GIS department. The working relationship built between Kanotech and Queens bodes well for an ongoing relationship to continue development of additional enhancements and new modules consistent with The Spatialist CivicCenter toolset.

 

This project is partially funded by the GeoInnovations 1999 Program. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), as part of the GeoConnections initiative, invited Canadian companies to conduct projects for this program. GeoInnovations 1999 is a federal government program to develop government/private sector partnerships which accelerate the development of technologies, applications, and access to databases through the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI).