NSW firefighting to go spatial: vendor - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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NSW firefighting to go spatial: vendor

By Jeanne-Vida Douglas, ZDNet Australia
February 18, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/NSW-firefighting-to-go-spatial-vendor/0,139023166,120272164,00.htm

A combination of spatial and mobile communications technology is set to play a key role in combating bushfires by next summer, according to MapInfo CEO Mark Cattini.

According to Cattini, both the ACT Emergency Services Bureau (ESB) and the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) are set to adopt a MapInfo bushfire-modelling system, which relays data gathered from aerial surveys to bushfire crews on the ground via mobile devices such as cellular phones.

"The RFS in NSE are rolling out an application which will supply information directly to field crews about the pattern and shape of a blaze at any one time, making it possible for volunteer forces to position themselves to combat a blaze," Cattini said. "The software take its information from planes and breaks it down into information which can be provided via an intranet, the Internet, or fed out through mobile devices."

While the RFS has yet to confirm the purchase of the software, Cattini said it is based on spatial technology developed for emergency services and national security bureaux throughout the world.

"The core application we have developed has uses in mobile commerce applications, such as location-based services telling me how to locate the nearest garage, or restaurant, as well as buddy and friend finder services," Cattini said. "However the fire applications are designed to tell crews on the ground how close they are to the fire, and could potentially save many lives."

The system adopted in the ACT was developed by Rick McRae, who heads up the ESB's risk management unit, based on MapInfo's MapInfo Professional and MapBasic products.

"This project originated as a means of fufilling a shortfall in the capability of the ACT Bushfire Service," McRae said.

"The challenge was to create a comprehensive bushfire modelling system for summers like this one, based on the many recent national advances in bushfire research.

"It is flexible and able to be readily adapted to work in other areas. This makes it a cost-effective system for use by other government agencies," McRae said in a statement.

"Since its successful implementation, this project has enabled us to improve community safety in three key areas. It allows detailed analysis of a bushfire's risk to life, property and assets; enables potential fire behaviour to be calculated without referring to any particular ignition point; and assesses risk levels across the terrain".