Emergency Response Digital Map Platform

30 December 2009, 12:14pm

Taiwan Power Company and the Atomic Energy Council, which is under the Executive Yuan, have thrown much effort and funding into developing a set of emergency response systems for the three nuclear plants that are currently operating in Taiwan.

This is a precaution taken by them to make sure that the general public will receive the most timely and updated news if emergency conditions do unfortunately occur.

Due to the popularization of GIS technologies and digital maps, they have started to integrate their data, such as census and nuclear plant locations, onto the GIS platform for display, browse and analysis.Due to the popularization of GIS technologies and digital maps, they have started to integrate their data, such as census and nuclear plant locations, onto the GIS platform for display, browsing and analysis.

Challenges

Emergency Response Digital Map Platform interface

The maps and relevant statistical data of the nuclear plants and the nearby villages were bought last year, so the issue that this system is required to solve is not creating first-hand data. Rather, the system will be used during emergencies, so it is a must that this system should respond quickly to real-time data. Real-time data, such as the radiant amount, will be fed into the system and the system will have to display the required emergency responses and statistics of the specific villages simultaneously. Therefore, the system will have to pay special attention as to how its functions can be made so that users can use them quickly and with ease.

Goals

This system intends to create a reference for relevant units and decision-makers to have a basis for their decisions either during periodic drills or if emergencies do unfortunately occur. The system will provide information on the villages close to the nuclear plants, with an aim to assist decision-makers to reduce the injuries, deaths and the time required for emergency responses. Hopefully, the system will greatly increase the capability, speed and efficiency of emergency responses during emergency times.

Solutions

This system uses SuperGIS Desktop as the fundamental platform for updating and displaying data, including village census, the location of nuclear plants, the location of radiation hospitals and the amount of iodine tablets that they store, the location of emergency stations, and the gathering points, evacuation routes and accommodation stations if an emergency evacuation is necessary. Also, tourist attractions, schools and other places that people might gather are also included in the data layers for extra reference of decision-makers.

Decision-makers can import Excel tables that contain data on the radiation quantity into the system, and the system will read these data to automatically determine whether the villages should shelter, take iodine tablets or evacuate. For the villages that require evacuation, the system can also dynamically display the gathering points, evacuation route and accommodation stations.

Results

Once this system has been completed, relevant units and decision-makers can easily and rapidly import real-time data for the system to automatically determine the emergency response that should be taken by each village. With this function, the time for calculation and updating data can be reduced greatly, whereas emergency response decisions can be made much faster. This shall reduce the overall injuries, deaths and property losses. The evacuation information shown dynamically can also allow decision-makers to quickly find out the gathering points and evacuation routes available at each village, allowing them to quickly make decisions and publish their evacuation decisions for the general public. This way, people can evacuate from danger zones with lesser time lag.

Original case study and additional images