GI Technology in Disasters and Security Threats

24 July 2008, 2:40pm

Redlands, California—Whether reacting to a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or preventing a terrorist attack, homeland security professionals need reliable tools such as geographic information system (GIS) software to analyze and map data. A new ESRI Press book, GIS Tutorial for Homeland Security, teaches this cutting-edge technology with easy-to-follow lessons.

The book, published this August, uses actual data and real-world scenarios to show how GIS can help prevent, plan for, respond to, and recover from disasters and threats. Among the scenarios for applying geospatial analysis are devising a warning plan to prevent a chemical attack and creating missing-persons status maps after a hurricane.

Authors Susan Lindell Radke and Eddie Hanebuth introduce GIS concepts and ESRI's ArcGIS Desktop software and explain the ways the technology can be applied to analyzing homeland security situations. Readers will learn to use the ArcMap and ArcCatalog applications in ArcGIS Desktop, where they will prepare and analyze data, work with data layers, and create analytic maps related to homeland security planning and operations. The tutorial also will show how to build the components of a Minimum Essential Dataset (MEDS) database as defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The book explains how to analyze the MEDS data and turn it into meaningful geointelligence. "This geointelligence helps homeland security planners and operations personnel recognize potentially threatening situations, enabling them to mitigate impacts or even prevent the event from occurring," write Radke and Hanebuth.

Each chapter integrates GIS analysis with national planning scenarios (NPS), which the DHS developed and released in 2005. Readers will be able to apply their GIS skills—from creating situational awareness to preparing damage assessments—to hypothetical emergencies including biological and chemical attacks, a hurricane, and an earthquake.

Two DVDs accompany the book. The data DVD contains PowerPoint presentation slides summarizing the essential components of each exercise. An instructor resource document outlining possible lesson plans and course schedules is in the book and on the DVD. A separate DVD contains a 180-day trial version of ArcGIS 9.3.

The authors of GIS Tutorial for Homeland Security have considerable experience in GIS education. Radke is founder and president of Berkeley Geo-Research Group, an Orinda, California, GIS company. Hanebuth is founder and president of Digital Quest, a Mississippi-based development and training-oriented company that produces GIS instructional material for educational institutions.

GIS Tutorial for Homeland Security (ISBN: 978-1-58948-188-6, 450 pages, $79.95) is available at online retailers worldwide, at www.esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit www.esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options or contact your local ESRI distributor. For a current distributor list, visit www.esri.com/distributors. Interested retailers can contact ESRI Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.

www.esri.com/esripress

Geo: International