Self-service GIS: Manchester leads the wayRichard Spooner finds that Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service can now tailor its activities to communities that need most help, thanks to the success of a self-service GIS model

GMFRS (www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/) is the largest Fire and Rescue Service outside London with more than 2,200 staff and 41 fire stations. It covers an area of approximately 500 square miles and serves a population of 2.5 million people. Yet like all fire and rescue services and public sector organisations, it has had to make cost savings following large reductions in its funding.

ThebusinesscaseforGISAs he went out to tender for a corporate Geographic Information System (GIS) in December 2010, Mike Baines, Systems Administrator in the Corporate Planning and Intelligence Directorate, knew he was under pressure to reduce costs. However, there was a significant demand for geographic information throughout GMFRS, as he explains. “At the time, geographic information in digital form was only available to the command and control system. “Consequently the GIS team was inundated with requests from both operational and non-operational personnel to produce ad hoc maps for a whole range of purposes. We were spending most of our time creating incident maps or ‘dots on maps’ as we affectionately called them.”

Unsurprisingly, Baines built his business case for GIS, on the benefits of extending the reach of geographic information in GMFRS to more people and more systems. He was also adamant that a new corporate GIS should allow staff to access the information quickly and easily themselves, without relying on so-called experts to mediate the service.

“It might sound as if we were specifying ourselves out of a job.” continues Baines. “We recognised that the GIS team could contribute to GMFRS’ commitment to doing more with less, by promoting geographic information as self-service. It would deliver the cost-savings we were looking for, and if we were successful, it would free the team to pursue more strategic roles in GMFRS. That is precisely how it has worked out.”

VendorselectionFollowing a competitive tender and an extensive evaluation, GMFRS decided to deploy a corporate GIS supplied by the British web mapping and GIS software specialist, Cadcorp.

“We selected Cadcorp for a number of reasons” recalls Baines.

emeRGenCY seRVICes

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Bypromotinggeographicinformationasself-service,theGISteamhasbeenfreedtopursueotherstrategicworkinGMFRS.(Fromtheleft,FaraGorsi,MikeBainesandMarkDeakin)

“Thecompany’sSpatialInformationSystem(SIS)technologyisbasedonopenstandards,andwesawthisasthekeytomuchneededinteroperability.Itwouldallowustointegratemoreeasilywiththedatabasesweuse(Oracle®andMicrosoftSQLServer),andtheapplicationswearerunninginGMFRS.Thiswouldallowustoreduceduplicationofdataandimproveourdataaccuracyinasinglestroke.

“TheinterfaceofCadcorpSISsoftwaretendstobeeasyforuserstounderstand,andthiswasimportantifweweretoachieveourobjectiveofself-service.Wealsowantedtogiveourusersbrowser-basedintranetaccesstospatialdataasfaraspossible.Whileanumberofvendorsofferedcapablewebviewingcapabilities,nonecouldmatchCadcorpfortheanalyticalcapabilitiesofitsWebMapViewerproduct.”

ThesolutionBainesfoundthatGMFRScouldmanagewithjustsixdesktoplicencesofGISsoftware.MostneedsweretobemetbyacorporatedeploymentofWebMapViewerontheGMFRSintranet:

“WehaveeffectivelymadegeographyorlocationavailableasacorporateresourcetoanyoneinGMFRSthathasabusinessneedtouseit.Wehavedonesobysettingupspatialdatasets–maplayersifyoulike–tomeettheslightlydifferentbusinessneedofdifferentdepartments.Alongsidethosedepartmentallayerswehavegenericbasemaplayersthatareneededbyallusers.Ratherthanrestrictaccesstotheindividual’sowndepartmentaldata,wehavemadealldatalayersavailabletoallusers,throughwhatisacommonwebmappingapplication.”

TheimportanceofincidentrecordingThisdemocratisationofdataisabigchangeforGMFRS.While

individualdepartmentsremainresponsiblefortheownershipofparticulardatasets,anyonecanconsumedata.Bainesexplainedhowthisworksbyreferencetooneofthemostwidelyuseddatasetintheservice–incidentdata:

“Understandingtheriskoffires,incidentsandothertypesofemergencyiscrucialtoourabilitytoprovideanefficientandcosteffectivefireandrescueservice.Havingaccurateinformationonriskmeanswecantargetourresourceswheretheyaremostlikelytobecalleduponinanemergency.Howeverwealsousethatsamesetofdatatohelpustoprioritiseoursafetyandpreventionactivities.Incidentrecodingiscentraltoourunderstandingofrisk.

Byrecordingincidentswearebuildingupafine-grainedandlocalhistoryofpreviousevents,whichwecanuseasapredictoroffuturerisklevelsbylocation.”

TheinformationonincidentsishandledinadedicatedIncidentRecordingSystem(IRS)suppliedbyUKsoftwarevendor3tcSoftware.Cadcorp’sGIStechnologyiscalledintoplaybyprovidingamap-basedwindowintotheinformationmanagedbytheIRS.ItenablesanyoneinGMFRStocarryouttheirownsearchesbydate,time,area,andincidenttype.FutureenhancementswillalsoallowdataownerstopopulatetheIRSwithgeographicdatabyspecifyingthepreciselocationofincidentsagainstamapbackground,andhavethecoordinatesoftheincidentlocationpassedbacktotheIRS.

KPIReportingWebMapViewerisbotharepositoryofspatialinformationanddeviceforviewingandqueryingthatinformation.However,itisalsoamap-basedreportingtool,forthe22KeyPerformanceIndicatorscollectedbyGMFRS,asBainesrelates:

“It’snolongersufficientsimplytoknowhowwellweareperformingasaserviceasawhole.WeneedtounderstandhowwellweareperformingindifferentpartsofGreaterManchester.WebMapViewerletsusersselectbyKPI,date,andarea,andvisualiseourperformanceagainstamap.Wemapperformancewardbyward,andweuseCadcorp’smappingcapabilitiestoidentifyhot-spots–whereclustersofincidentswhicharehigherthanwemightexpect.Wefindthatmap-basedpresentationsaremucheasiertointerpretthanthespreadsheetsthattheyreplace.”

MeetingunforeseenneedsOneofthepleasantsurprisesforBainesandhisteam,isthatthecorporateGIShasexpandedintoareasofapplicationthatweren’tpreviouslyenvisaged,andweren’tevenincludedintheoriginalbusinesscase.OneoftheseareaswasIncidentSupportMapping:

“TheoriginalintentionwasthatanewCommandandControlSystemwouldalsoprovideincidentsupportmappingcapabilitiestobeusedbyfirecrewstomapkeyfeaturesatthesceneofanincident.Infactthesystemnevergotdeployed.WerecognisedthatCadcorp’sdesktopcapabilitieswerewell-suitedtothejobofrecordinggeographicinformationinthefield.NowwehaveMobileCommandUnitsusingCadcorpSISasalightsystemwhichnonethelesscanbeusedtoconstructevencomplexincidentmapsthroughtheuseofpoints,linesandpolygons.Italsoworkswiththecorporategazetteer,whichtheoldsystemdidnot.”

WhileintegrationwiththeIRSiscentraltothecontributionofGISinGMFRS,itisnottheonlyintegrationwithbusinesssystemsthatCadcorphasundertakenonbehalfofGMFRS.WebMapViewerisalsousedtoprovideamapwindowintothewhereaboutsofvehiclesthatareoutofstation.Theinformationispolledwithonlya30secondRoutesforeventssuchastheGreaterManchesterFunRunandManchesterPride

areeasilymapped

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delay,fromtheMotorolaProCAD™ComputerAidedDispatchandMobilisationsystemusedbyGMFRS.Similarly,WebMapViewerisintegratedwiththeAgresso™firehydrantinspectionandmanagementsystem,andwillnotonlyprovideamapdisplayofhydrants,butwillalsosupporttheirgeocoding.TheContingencyPlanningTeamalsousesWebMapViewerforplanninganddeliveringspecificeventssuchastheManchesterMarathon,andpartyconferences.

Promotion,protectionandpreventionWebMapViewerisusedbythePreventionTeamtoidentifywherelargenumbersofparticulartypesofincidentsareoccurring.Fromthattheycanidentifynearbyschoolsasvenuesforpromotingfiresafety.Infact,GMFRShasalwaysplayedasignificantroleinimprovingcommunityfiresafety,andhasahistoryofrunningsuccessfulhighly-publicisedcampaignsonissuessuchassmokealarms,arson,attacksonfirefightersandsmoking.Callingonpeopleathomeisnottheonlywaytogetmessagesacross,asBainesrecounts:

“SoonafterwehaddeployedWebMapViewer,wewereapproachedbyourCorporateCommunicationsteamtoseeifwecouldmapthelocationofpromotionopportunities,suchasadvertisingbillboards,busroutes

andnewsoutlets.Wereallyhadn’tenvisagedademandforgeographicinformationformediamapping.However,whenyouthinkaboutit,thepromotionalneedsofCorporateCommunicationsarenotverydifferentfromtheneedsofresponseplanners.Bothgroupswanttousemapstolocateaproblem,andbothwanttousemapstohelpoptimisetheirresponse.InfacttheCorporateCommunicationsTeamisnowmappingthelocationofsupermarkets,fireworkshops,busstopsandrailwaysstationstohelpthemgettheirmessageacrosstotheresidentsofManchesterwhiletheyareoutshoppingandcommutingtowork.”

InnovativetechnologymeetstraditionalmappingGIStechnologydoesn’thavetobetransformationaltobevaluable.Sometimesitsimplyprovidesabetterwayofdoingwhatyouhavealwaysdone.SuchisthecaseinGMFRSwhereCadcorpfunctionality,particularlyCADfunctionality,isbeingusedtocaptureandrecordindigitalformat,thehighlysimplifiedstreetmapsknownasGeographiaA-Zmaps.

Theverysimplicityoftheseline-drawnstreetmaps,alongwiththeirhighlyeffectiveindexingsystem,hasmadethesemapsafirmfavouriteamongstfireservices.ByusingCadcorpSIStomanagethesemapsindigitalformat,itbecomesaneasiermattertoprovidemapupdates,andofcourseenablesthemapstobemadeavailableinbothpaperanddigitalformats.

LearningtoserveyourselfInthe18monthssincethecorporateGISwentlive,GMFRShastrainedmorethan150personneltousetheintranetapplication.Bainesemphasisesthesignificanceoftraininginensuringprojectsuccess:

“TogetherwithourSystemTrainerswewereabletocreateanddeliveratrainingpackageconsistingofaonedaycourseplusasimpleandeasytofollowuserguidetoWebMapViewer.Thishasguaranteedthesuccessoftheproject.It’snotenoughtobuildandmakeavailableasolutiononthebasisthatitsvalueisself-evident.Thesuccessoftheprojectcomesfromensuringthatpeopleunderstandhowtousethesolution,andappreciatewhatitscapabilitiesare.

“Ican’tunderestimatetheimportanceofease-of-useinhelpingachievingourobjectiveofwidespreaddeployment.Wenolongergetrequeststoproduce‘dotsonmaps’aspeopleareabletoservethemselves.Insteadwegetaregettinglotsofrequeststoaddnewdataandnewfunctionality.Ithinkthatspeaksvolumesforthelevelofacceptanceofthesystem.”

Richard Spooner is Marketing Manager at Cadcorp (www.cadcorp.com)

IncidentrecordingiscrucialtotheService’sunderstandingofrisk.Cadcorp’sGIStechnologyprovidesamap-basedwindowintoadedicatedIncidentRecordingSystem(top)andmodelsriskbyLowerSuperOutputAreas(bottom)

WebMapViewerisusedtoprovideamapwindowintothewhereaboutsofvehiclesthatareoutoncalls

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