Visualizing Infrastructure Interdependencies in Emergencies

1
Visualizing Infrastructure Interdependencies in
Emergencies

• Lyn Bartram (SFU)
• Brian Klinkenberg (UBC)
• Kellogg Booth (UBC)

2
Overview

• Motivation and approach
• GIS in Emergency Mgmt (Brian)
• Approaches and issues
• Visualising interdependencies (lyn, Kelly)
• Current approaches
• Issues and challenges
• Where we need to go from here
• (hint) this involves you

3
Motivation

• In disaster planning, response and recovery, we
  need to monitor and visualize the various
  activities underway, including coordinated
  efforts where we may have partial information,
  uncertain data or external constraints that are
  changing in real-time as the various
  interdependent infrastructures coordinate their
  efforts.

4
Motivation

• 20 of 9/11 infrastructure disruptions involved
  infrastructure interdependencies
• Telecom, power, oil and gas, water substantially
  more
• Emergency management at 50
• These were both built (physical) and human
• Deep silos of expert infrastructure knowledge
  and operations
• Communication and coordination across
  infrastructures is problematic and untracked

5
Objectives for I2V

• Support emergent conditions
• Training works well for predicted but falls short
  in emergent events
• Common visual language
• Establish coordinating frame of reference
• GIS (but its not enough)
• what if capabilities
• Spatio-temporal representation
• Track, record and capture
• Augment information (annotation and plans)
• Collaborative environment
• Multiple decision makers need to negotiate and
  remain aware of activity

6
GIS, EM and CIP

• Disaster
• Vulnerability analysis
• Damage assessment
• Hazardous materials
• Resource inventory
• Personnel resources
• Infrastructure
• Mass care/shelter status

7
GIS, EM and CIP

• Risk assessment and risk modelling applications
  are not present in most municipalities.
• These applications should be implemented,
  ensuring integration with other organizations
  dealing with surveillance, detection, planning
  security programs, mitigation of hazards,
  preparedness for actual emergencies, response,
  and short and long-term recovery.
• There remains a perception that a GIS provides
  cartographic capability rather than a spatial
  modelling and analysis capability.

8
GIS, EM and CIP Applications developed in the US
GIS Application Developer / User Main Use Databases / Software used
HAZUS Federal Emergency Management Agencys (FEMA) Mainly used to estimate potential losses from floods, hurricane winds and earthquakes Infrastructure networks (water, gas, electricity, buildings, critical facilities) from the entire US, Wind, Geology, Census. (ESRI)
Community Vulnerability Assessment Tool New Hanover County (North Carolina) FEMA, New Hanover County, Coastal Services and Atmospheric Administration Hurricanes, Floods Previous earthquakes, erosion, floods, soils, wind, critical facilities (critical buildings transportation and utility services), marinas, storage sites, demographic databases. (ESRI)
CATS Consequences Assessment Tool Set SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), a private company hired by FEMA and by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Hurricanes, earthquakes, hazardous materials emergencies, terrorism (bombs, biological weapons) Real-time weather data bases, population data base, infrastructure data bases (approximately 160 data bases). (ESRI)
9
GIS, EM and CIP

• Data accessibility is one of the major issues
  when dealing with emergency management.
• There is a critical need for real-time data and
  information, a temporal requirement that often
  cannot be met in the field (Cutter 2003, 443)
• In real situations, there is often greater need
  for high temporal resolution data than for high
  spatial resolution data.
• Real-time personnel / vehicle tracking is
  critical.
• Accessible, interpreted remotely sensed imagery
  showing the impacts (area extent, significance of
  damage) is vital, but difficult to provide (wrt
  technical skills) and often not familiar to
  first-responders.

10
GIS, EM and CIP

• The main issues related to the information flows
  in a GIS for EM can be summarized in two
  categories
• Political issues Information sharing policies
  among private corporations and different levels
  of government, information property issues,
  sensitivity of information.
• Technical Issues Metadata standards, Information
  and system compatibility.
• Both sets of constraints need to be overcome
  before GIS could be integrated into practical
  decision-making

11
GIS, EM and CIP

• The inexperience of emergency managers with GIS
  precludes them from using it to aid
  decision-making to its full potential.
• The size of computer screens does not provide
  necessary detail for regional scale emergency
  management decision making. This makes it
  difficult to relate computer-based output to
  broad scale decision-making.

12
Visualizing interdependence

• Four conditions for infrastructure
  interdependency Mendonça 2007
• Input the infrastructure requires input from
  another to provide a service (power)
• Shared physical components and activities in
  providing the service are shared (roads)
• Exclusive-or either one or another
  infrastructure can be in use for a service
  (generation, water) but not both
• Co-location

13
Interdependency types

• Physical elements of the physical environment
  that depend on other elements. Examples include
  power lines, water mains, buildings housing
  infrastructure (substation, communication tower)
• Resource goods/services that are needed.
  Emergency beds depend on staff. Hospital capacity
  (beds) depend on medicine. Workers depend on
  transportation.
• Role/person coordination of decisions will
  depend on the right people being in the right
  place. Mike from the power managers needs to talk
  to Jill from the hospital about backup generation
  capacity before taking a line out.
• Information. Decisions depend often on having the
  right information from other sources..
• activity/event. This describes the situation
  where actions or events cannot take place without
  another action/event occurring.

14
Visualizing Interdependencies

• Hard to show in GIS
• Need to show different types
• Time/state
• (un)certainty of data
• Novel display environments

15

• draft images of GIS UI

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18

• Table displays
• Large shared wall screens
• Private public

19
A Prototype for GAANT Chart SchedulingVisualizati
on and Interaction

• Dependency Rationales
• Slack in start/stop date/times
• Screen layout for large charts
• Visual comparison of multiple charts

20
Dependency Rationales

• Identify types of dependencies
• Color code to support decision making
• scroll over identifies type with icon

21
Slack in start/stop date/times

• Microsoft Project assumes earliest start
• Display slack times
• Allow manipulation to utilize slack time

22
Screen layout for large charts

• Radial display mode
• Organize based on critical path
• minimize crossings and long arcs

23
Visual comparison of multiple charts

• Ability to display multiple charts
• Linking to identify common elements
• Visual highlighting of differences

24
Understanding interdependency we need your input

• Physical elements of the physical environment
  that depend on other elements.
• SIMULATOR and SCHEMATICS from existing
  infrastructure data.
• Resource goods/services that are needed.
• SIMULATOR ? .
• Role/person the right people being in the right
  place.
• PROCEDURES (incomplete), EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
• Elicit and capture
• Information.
• PROCEDURES, DOCUMENTATION (incomplete), EXPERT
  KNOWLEDGE
• Elicit and capture
• Activity/event.
• PROCEDURES (incomplete) and EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
• Elicit and capture