Situational Awareness Sharing Initiative
Mission
Investigate/develop options to provide emergency managers, responders and the public with visual situational awareness during crisis situations which will aid in assessing the situation, defining the problem(s), and planning an accurate economy of effort in response.
Why?
- Starting with earliest days of television when an announcer would show the forecast using a grease board map, the ability visualize the world around us has been greatly facilitated by using an approach which visually connects data to location,
- This concept was further enhanced when development of Geographic Information Systems meant multiple layers of information could be overlaid onto one mapped view,
- In recent years, it has become possible to provide the ESS with not only static layers of data such as structure locations, but dynamic layers of information that tell the story of "what's happening now"- speed of traffic as an example,
- In total, the development of this approach is known in the ESS as a "Common Operating Picture" or COP, and
- Given this technology is still developing, this project team was formed to explore how to best utilize the COP approach for benefit of the ESS and public during disasters.
Our Story
Coming into existence in summer 2020, the Situational Awareness Sharing Initiative (SASI) Project Team is the newest of the EPC's project teams. It continues to develop both project team concepts and explore different approaches for developing COP approaches which would be of value to the public and state's ESS community.
Project Related Items
Project Team Current Goal
Continue development of the Minnesota Situational Awareness Viewer (MNSAV) as a testbed for COP concepts, with an emphasis on coordinating data sources with the Critical Infrastructure Assessment Project Team.
Meetings
- Frequency: Approximately once a quarter
- Time: Check "Events Calendar" for next meeting information
- Where: Online - Zoom
- Chair/Point of Contact: Steve Swazee, chair@mgacepc.org, 651-456-5411