Anything that disturbs public security and which threatens life and the health of many people can have a huge impact on the environment and it may cause serious damage to all forms of infrastructure.

 

Information systems with the provision of tools to more efficiently support of emergency management information are becoming vital to support robust emergency response.

 

It has been Gaist’s mission to allow for more effective visualisation of an emergency/disaster situation by allowing responders to view an accurate physical geography of an emergency situation on a web based platform and then append with other relevant features, events, conditions or threats. Users can make decisions based on this highly graphical data. This visualised information can be of critical relevance to the emergency responder agency. 

 

A joined up response to an incident, save lives and restricts the damaging consequences of the emergency, first responders of emergency services go into action, i.e. the fire and rescue services, the police forces, paramedics and other CAT1 and CAT2 agencies. These emergency responders have their own tasks, but they need to cooperate for effective emergency response. They respond to the same emergency, so it follows that they should, wherever possible, make use of each other’s operational information about the development of the incident and use the same environmental and topographic data. 

 

Gaist has built from the ground up a dedicated Spatial Data Information Platform called GRP2 (geographical Resource Platform 2). 

This system has been built to support emergency management information needs, specifically for the task of supporting the work of the emergency responders.

GRP2 facilitates and coordinates the exchange and sharing of static and dynamic spatial data between all responder agencies. GRP2 is also able to provide the means by which diverse organisational and governmental agencies can participate in the full range of emergency management activities including; exercising, training and planning.

 

Within the Local Resilience Forums awareness of the capabilities of GRP2 is rising and a large number of responder agencies across the UK are either using the system as part of their operational response or trialling the system. The GRP2 system has already been used to support a number of major incidents and has supported organisations plan for major events such as the Olympics and the Tour de France. To find out how Gaist can support your organisation please contact Gaist on 01535 631006