Negotiating the 'trading zone'. Creating a shared information infrastructure in the Dutch public safety sector

Our main concern in this article is whether nation-wide information technology (IT) infrastructures or systems in emergency response and disaster management are the solution to the communication problems the safety sector suffers from. It has been argued that implementing nation-wide IT systems will help to create shared cognition and situational awareness among relief workers. We put this claim to the test by presenting a case study on the introduction of ‘netcentric work’, an IT system-based platform aiming at the creation of situational awareness for professionals in the safety sector in the Netherlands. The outcome of our research is that the negotiation with relevant stakeholders by the Dutch government has lead to the emergence of several fragmented IT systems. It becomes clear that a top-down implementation strategy for a single nation-wide information system will fail because of the fragmentation of the Dutch safety sector it is supposed to be a solution to. As the US safety sector is at least as fragmented as its Dutch counterpart, this may serve as a caveat for the introduction of similar IT systems in the US

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

From Common Operational Picture to Common Situational Understanding : A Framework for Information Sharing in Multi-Organizational Emergency Management

Complex emergencies such as natural disasters are increasing in frequency and scope, in all regions of the world. These emergencies have devastating impacts on people, property, and the environment. Responding to these events and reducing their impact requires that emergency management organizations (EMOs) collaborate in their operations. Complex emergencies require extraordinary efforts from EMOs and often should be handled beyond ordinary routines and structures. Such operations involving multiple stakeholders are typically characterized by inadequate information sharing, decision-making problems, limited situational awareness (SA), and lack of common situational understanding. Despite a high volume of research on these challenges, evaluations from complex disasters and large-scale exercises document that there are still several unsolved issues related to information sharing and the development of common situational understanding. Examples here include fulfillment of heterogeneous information needs, employment of different communication tools and processes with limited interoperability, and information overload resulting from a lack of mechanisms for filtering irrelevant information. Multi-organizational emergency management is an established area of research focusing on how to successfully collaborate and share information for developing common situational understanding. However, the level of complexity and situational dependencies between the involved EMOs create challenges for researchers. An important element for efficient collaboration and information sharing is building and maintaining a common operational picture (COP). Sharing important information is a key element in emergency management involving several EMOs, and both static and dynamic information must be accessible to perform tasks effectively during emergency response. To be proactive and mitigate the emergency impacts requires up-to-date information, both factual information via the COP and the ability to share interpretations and implications through using a communication system for rapid verbal negotiation. The overall research objective is to investigate how stakeholders perceive and develop SA and COP, and to explore and understand key requirements for stakeholders to develop a common situational understanding in complex multi-organizational emergency management.publishedVersio

Shipboard Crisis Management: A Case Study.

The loss of the "Green Lily" in 1997 is used as a case study to highlight the characteristics of escalating crises. As in similar safety critical industries, these situations are unpredictable events that may require co-ordinated but flexible and creative responses from individuals and teams working in stressful conditions. Fundamental skill requirements for crisis management are situational awareness and decision making. This paper reviews the naturalistic decision making (NDM) model for insights into the nature of these skills and considers the optimal training regimes to cultivate them. The paper concludes with a review of the issues regarding the assessment of crisis management skills and current research into the determination of behavioural markers for measuring competence

From common operational picture to common situational understanding: An analysis based on practitioner perspectives

The concepts of Situational Awareness (SA) and Common Operational Picture (COP) are closely related and well-acknowledged to be crucial factors for effective emergency management. In multi-agency operations, such as extreme weather events, the involved first responders manage the event with different mandates, objectives, and tools which can make it challenging to build a COP. Effective collaboration requires a common situational understanding, based on knowledge about each other’s responsibilities and tasks, mutual respect and trust, as well as common communication tools for emergency communication and information sharing. This paper argues that the COP serves as a basis for deciding on further action, and thus represents a first stage in the process of establishing common situational understanding among the involved actors. The empirical basis for the study includes interviews with Norwegian emergency management stakeholders, analysis of audio-logs, and review of public documents. Based on the analysis we present a framework comprising activities and processes involved in establishing a COP as a basis for common situational understanding.publishedVersio

Project report : Requirements specification

The SAMRISK project “Sharing incident and threat information for common situational understanding“ (INSITU) commenced in May 2019. The INSITU project develops solutions for establishing a common situational understanding in complex operations requiring collaboration between several agencies. This involves systematic analysis of existing information sources and defining the information elements that are critical to share in different phases of a crisis situation. In addition, the project will develop procedures and related tool support for efficient collection and integration of information. As part of this work, the project contributes to harmonisation of terminology across agencies to secure effective communication. A map-based interface for display of information from different digital map resources will be developed, as a basis for a common operational picture (COP). This solution will also support evaluation and learning from incidents and emergency exercises. Based on a review of related research, the report briefly summarises the state of the art for the areas focused in the project. Through interviews and discussions with emergency stakeholders, field observation during an exercise, and field visits at operations centres, current practice for information sharing and establishing a COP is analysed. Based on the expressed needs from the emergency stakeholders and our analysis of current practice, the report specifies a set of requirements for information sharing, harmonisation of terminology, use of common map resources, and technology support for evaluation and learning from incidents.publishedVersio

Map functions to facilitate situational awareness during emergency events

Emergency events such as floods and wildfires are handled by various responders and at various levels: strategic, tactical, and operational. To facilitate situational awareness, emergency responders require customized map-based decision support systems that are tailored to specific needs depending on the responders’ organizational affiliation, role, objectives, and occupationally specific knowledge. As a result, the systems are equipped with manifold map functions. However, the diversity of map-based emergency tools in use impedes gaining common user skills among their target audiences and thus, requires a systematic overview. Through a multistep research process, this study was to: investigate the requirements for support from map-based tools expressed by various emergency responders in Norway, identify desired map functions, and categorize those functions to facilitate an overview. Six stages constituted our workflow: meetings with Norwegian emergency responders, survey on selected map-based tools, interviews with designers and users of tools, a table-top exercise, theoretical considerations, and validation with stakeholders. This study contributes to the state of the art by systematizing and structuring knowledge about map functions that facilitate situational awareness. In turn, it helps developing and optimizing functionality of map-based tools depending on needs of specific emergency responders.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Map-based interfaces for common operational picture

Common operationalpicture (COP) map-based interfacesdisplay operational information to support integrationofemergency responders. Such interfacesintegrate different subsystems and present the resulting information into an overview for enabling situation awareness. Literature shows that they are often developed from non-user-centric perspectives and are defined in technological terms that arenot adequately capturing the users’ needs. Therefore,theaim of this particular work in progressis to get insight into the features and the role of COP map-based interfaces currently being used in Norway to (1) examine theircontent, functionality, and design;and(2) to understand how such displays are incorporated into the servicecontext.This studystructuresthe knowledge on map displays that constitute part of the COP services.Using workshopand interviews with the developers and usersof existing COP map services, we identify requirements for a common operational symbology and common operational functionality to improvesuch map services andmake them interoperable.publishedVersio

Using Audio-Logs for Analyzing the Development of a Common Operational Picture in Multi-agency Emergency Response

Multi-agency emergency response requires effective communication and collaboration for building and maintaining a common operational picture. Full-scale exercises are shown to be effective for learning, and for training the collaborative skills needed. This paper presents a methodology for analysis of real-time communication for building the common operational picture, using audio-logs. The analysis of the audio-logs provides insights for both practitioners and researchers in the emergency management domain concerning the dynamics of inter-agency collaboration and information exchanges when responding to emergencies. Coding and categorizing of audio-log-based information exchanges among multi-agency stakeholders were applied based on a full-scale emergency exercise on multiple terror actions. The results show that the methodology can contribute to analyze the development of a common operational picture, supplementing existing methods for evaluation of full-scale emergency exercises and real events