| Forest Fire Planning and Response |
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The Problem
Fighting forest fires is a prime example of the significance of
terrain in disaster planning and response. Following are
some factors that call for a 3D understanding of
the ground in predicting course and responding to fires:
- Fires run uphill.
- Fires create their own weather, the winds of which are
channeled through ground, and can work to feed the fire more
oxygen.
- The speed of movement of ground crews, their access and
escape routes, their exposure to hot smoke, and their risk vs.
effectiveness all depend on the terrain.
- The effect of water bombers is dictated by water running downhill.
Currently a large gap exists in this process. Fires develop
with
little notice and call on many different bodies from volunteers to
local, state, and federal crews. The diverse nature of the
hastily assembled team makes for incompatibilities in information
exchange, deficiencies in consistent maps, and a general communication
problem.
How EarthDetails Can Help
At a command center, a 3D model of the ground can overlay and display
- the result of weather (both general weather as well as
winds and temperatures generated by the fire itself)
- current satellite or aerial images of the fire front
- expert forecast of the spread of the fire based on
the above
- GPS locations of ground crews reported over radio
- a projected smoke model showing densities in 3D space
based on wind patterns
- locations of water bombers
Having a central 3D modeler allows the information to flow up to
command over whatever radio means available, to be integrated into one
unified model, and to be used by commanders to react in a timely manner to
redeploy water bombers, ground crews and other resources to both
- increase safety of crews, and
- more effectively contain the fire
If you are an experienced fire fighter,
please contact us
with your advice on how to make this
technology useful to fellow fire fighters.
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| Highlights: |
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EarthDetails renders over 300 thousand rooftops, irregular high density LIDAR elevation data,
and high resolution imagery supplied by OSI Geospatial for an entire county in the NorthWest.
more...
EarthDetails brings 3D to a TomTom GO In-Car GPS.
more...
EarthDetails renders the US West Coast with Geological Survey data.
more...
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