Government Technology - January 2008 - (Page 23)

Virtual Montgomery This virtual view of downtown Montgomery is an example of the imagery state and local ofﬁcials can access in Virtual Alabama. The imagery can be used in a variety of ways, including emergency response training, asset tracking, evacuation routing and environmental assessment. others failed by defeating the jurisdictional and proprietary issues that dog other projects. Walker credits Riley for delivering the necessary executive leadership and Norvin Goddard, a rocket scientist on loan to the state from the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., for creating an application that uses the power of GIS data and delivers it in a format that even nontechnical emergency personnel can use during a crisis. Walker, a former soldier and firefighter, also believes that the platform Google Earth provides was paramount in making Virtual Alabama a reality. “We have all 67 counties loaded; it’s the most comprehensive data set in the country,” Walker said. “No other state has it. What’s beautiful about this program is it reflects the best of government.” Virtual Alabama gives emergency personnel — county commissioners, sheriffs, police chiefs, firefighters and emergency managers — the ability to achieve things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. For example, with the 3-D modeling capabilities built in to Google Earth, law enforcement agencies can visually render a suspected drug lab, allowing SWAT officers to determine lines of sight, and the best entry and exit points. Similarly firefighters racing to a burning structure can quickly determine the fastest route to the site and whether any hazardous materials may be stored there. Virtual Alabama also provides tools that help emergency officials react to even the most uncommon scenarios, such as a toxic gas cloud that may threaten a population. “You can do plume modeling on the fly,” Walker explained. “Let’s say a tanker truck overturns on the interstate and is spilling chlorine gas. We populate all these real-time data centers on Virtual Alabama. I can click a couple of buttons and see what the temperature is — the wind direction, wind speed, etc. “You factor all this stuff into a little software program called Aloha that’s embedded in Virtual Alabama, and it will give you a plume model and tell you — given the fact this is chlorine gas — it’s going to go in this direction, these are the people most likely to die, these are going to be incapacitated.” The hardware, software and licensing fees required to build Virtual Alabama set the state back $150,000. Even at such a bargain price, Walker claims Virtual Alabama is the most complete data set in the country. He doesn’t appear to be exaggerating. In addition to the capabilities already described, Virtual Alabama also features the floor plans for all Alabama schools and can layer data describing the concentration of students on campus at any given time. If a school shooting, or the threat of one, is reported, responders can quickly determine how and where the student population is distributed on campus. And if a school has surveillance cameras, the video can be viewed in real time. What’s more, Walker said Virtual Alabama helps cross the digital divide that exists between wealthy counties and their more rural neighbors. “We’ve got some pretty poor rural counties in Alabama. It levels the technological playing field. If you’ve got a computer, you can layer and tailor just like the wealthier parts of the state,” Walker said “We’re empowering people who’ve never been empowered before.” Inside Out Using software from Autodesk, military ofﬁcials can walk the streets of a virtual Baghdad or city planners can model subterranean facilities. They can go inside buildings and underneath them. The cityscapes can be rendered to incorporate features such as electrical wiring, mechanical systems, and water and sewage. Viva Sheboygan The evolution of GIS is making an impact around the world, though in many cases, you don’t have to go anywhere to experience it. Las Vegas and Sheboygan, Wis., are each enhancing the business of government through the use of clever GIS applications. In Las Vegas, e-government managers Greg Duncan and Anthony Willis are rolling out an array of citizen-facing services that seamlessly employ GIS technology without end-users ever noticing it. Their motivation to deliver tools that use location data stems from a realization that using GIS no longer means you need to have a wealth of expertise. “Instead it can be something where you can answer spatially related questions through a Web browser,” Duncan said. “And that’s what we’ve been trying to do with some of the new services we’re starting to launch on the city’s Web site. The user of the system doesn’t have to be a GIS analyst, but [he or she] can still answer spatial questions.” In Sin City, it’s the visitors who are usually the ones at the casinos. Residents of Las Vegas 23 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - January 2008

Government Technology - January 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Scene CIO Sightings Four Questions for... Spectrum Location, Location, Location Digital Governor Back to the Drawing Board Waukesha Goes Green Collaring Dangerous Dogs Public Sector Goes Web 2.0 Bounce Back SACWIS Rollout Simple Strategy Products Personal Computing How It Works signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2008

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