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Province Launches Pilot Project to Help Manage Emergencies The Emergency Visualization Application pilot project is an online collection of maps. Through the Internet, emergency managers can draw on electronic maps, make notes and share information. For example, they will be able to quickly determine where facilities such as schools and hospitals are located in an area affected by a train derailment or where flooding could occur when a river overflows its bed. The software is being tested in Waterloo and will be available across the rest of the province following the pilot. This application was developed by Emergency Management Ontario and provincial and municipal partners with some funding from the federal government. It will be available free of charge to municipalities, police and fire services, and emergency management agencies. This pilot project was announced as part of Emergency Preparedness Week which was from May 6 to May 12. All Ontario households should have an emergency preparedness kit that takes into consideration the specific requirements of every family member, including those with disabilities, special needs, children, seniors and even pets. Information on how to build your own survival kit can be found on the Emergency Management Ontario website at www.ontario.ca/emo. The Emergency Visualization Application pilot project was developed by Emergency Management Ontario with assistance from the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and the Government of Ontario's Justice Technology Services. The province invested $200,000 in the project and the federal government, through Natural Resources Canada, invested $150,000. This new technology will be available free of charge to municipalities, police and fire services, and other agencies or organizations that manage emergencies. The system will be accessible by clients 24-7 through the Internet. How It Works The Emergency Visualization Application allows emergency managers to share information, evaluate a situation and consider options for emergency responses through maps accessed on the Internet. It also allows them to collaborate from anywhere in Ontario and have access to the same information at the same time. The application will mean more coordinated and faster responses by accelerating and improving the decision-making process in emergency situations where time and accuracy are often critical. The data contained in its mapping system is used to identify or locate street addresses, postal codes, population, geographic coordinates, roads, latitude and longitude, and Global Positioning System data. Such information is used to:
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