Page 39 - GCN, Oct/Nov 2017

ALIZATION
demand is higher during weekdays when office buildings need power, and different regions have different seasonal demands. During the summer, demand is highest in the afternoon when it’s hot- test, while spikes occur in the morning during the winter as people wake up to cold homes and offices.
“You don’t really get a sense of the need on the system if you don’t have the data that shows that level of granularity,” Lee said.
Finalist
FEMA integrates GIS tech into hurricane response and recovery
FEMA Hurricane Journal
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security
When it comes to hurricane preparation and response, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion, the National Weather Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Geological Survey is needed
to inform decisions on how federal and state leaders should proceed.
The Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency Hurricane Journal uses geospatial system technology from Esri to combine information from all those sources into a cloud-based dashboard for disaster-response decision-making.
“While the planning and exercise component of FEMA has the operational planning and decision-making exper- tise, we worked hand in glove with the chief information officer to research the requirements,” said Joshua Dozor, direc- tor of planning and exercises in FEMA’s Response Directorate. That research involved “talking with the operators in the field and at headquarters to deter- mine what specific needs should be in the journal.”
The tool was launched in late Sep- tember 2016, as Hurricane Matthew hit the Caribbean and South Carolina. It replaced FEMA’s traditional practice of passing static maps among departments for analysis.
The Hurricane Journal draws on data from joint field offices, disaster recovery centers, shelters and other sources. It
is organized into sections with maps related to support, resources, assistance, population, building impacts, transporta- tion and infrastructure.
“The journal gives FEMA regional administrators who work with state and local partners...the ability to make the decisions as opposed to a map-maker
or geospatial analyst,” FEMA CTO Ted Okada said. “You are giving these key decision-makers the ability to toggle lay-
ers on and off the maps to come up with a conclusion based on the probabilistic data that is given.”
FEMA is exploring similar journals for responding to earthquakes, tornadoes and improvised nuclear devices, but officials decided to start with hurricanes because of the high degree of difficulty. Through work with consultant New Light Technologies, FEMA can now update the information on several vec- tors in real time based on forecasts and resource and personnel needs.
“During hurricanes Harvey and Irma, we opened up the journal to the whole geospatial community, [which] provided surge staffing support,” Dozor said. “And with state and local agencies, we use
all of their data and encourage them
to share information with us, which makes decision-making better across the enterprise.”
Finalist
Spotting fraud
through better data
analytics
Fraud and Analytics Platform
Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services
In July, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector Gen- eral helped uncover a Medicare fraud scheme that totaled $1.3 billion. Over 400 individuals in 41 federal districts were charged. HHS officials say such
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