New Zealand GIS for Emergency Management Community

This week there were updates to both ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro 2.0 was released. This is a short blog post to highlight what is relevant for emergency management in New Zealand. 

1) The Solutions for Emergency Management have also been updated (What's New | ArcGIS for Emergency Management).

• This includes updated symbology in the Service Catalog (simpler, easier to read symbols).
• A series of enhancements to Situational Awareness Viewer, Logistics Planning, and Operations Response.
• A series of enhancements to the ArcGIS Solutions Deployment Tool.

2) Web AppBuilder Widgets (What’s New in Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS (June 2017) | ArcGIS Blog )

• Full Screen Widget – This enables web apps to launch in full screen mode in your web browser. 
• Grid Overlay Widget - For those of you working with NZ Defence Force and Urban Search and Rescue in the US, this is a great addition. This will render and display a US Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) grid dynamically and at different index levels inside the application based on the scale of the map display.
• Screening widget – Enables you to define an area of interest (based on a placename and buffer distance; drawing a point, line, or polygon; an input shapefile that defines the spatial extent; or a coordinate location and buffer distance) and analyze specified layers for potential impacts. The analysis results can be shared with others as a printed report, CSV file, and file geodatabase or shapefile download. Below I have configured this widget to work with a Situation Report feature layer template.  

See the PDF report produced here.

3) Web AppBuilder Dashboard Theme (Theme—Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS | ArcGIS) 

The new theme displays all the widgets in the panel simultaneously when the app starts. It is designed to visualize widgets and their communication directly. You can modify the predefined layout by adding, removing, or resizing the grids in the panel. By default, most on-screen widgets are turned off except for the Home and Zoom Slider widgets. Optionally, you can turn on the Header widget to display the logo, the app name, and links.

1. Pre-load Data: As a best practice, you might have an integrated lifelines layer pre-populated with known lifeline assets (using the Append Tool to add assets to your layer), them simply have stakeholders update the level of service during disaster using any editing app (e.g. Web AppBuilder). Pro: All of your lifeline data is at your fingertips and you simply need to update the level of service. Con: This can lead to a very large dataset that requires effort to update. 
2. Add Data "On the Fly": If you do not have data to pre-populated onto your map, you can always simply add points and lines manually during an event using this schema with (e.g. Survey123 or GeoForms). Pro: The advantage here is it is very simple. Con: the disadvantage is you are duplicating effort since you most likely already know the locations of your lifeline assets. Try this approach using Survey123: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/5129459964c14fa2884fcc8f6042f193 

The best approach is one that you can manage with the resources available to you - either way, do not wait for the next disaster to pick one of these options!

If you are a GIS Specialist supporting authorised civil defence emergency management officials or structural engineers, this XLSForm will help them quickly evaluate building safety after an event such as a major earthquake or flood. 

This is different from the Urban Search and Rescue and Welfare Assessment - it is the official building placard system (red, yellow, white) for New Zealand.

The form is a digital version of the Rapid Assessment Forms which are provided by Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, and is designed to be deployed with Survey123 for ArcGIS. You can augment the form with your own questions, and extend it with the additional capabilities of Survey123.

Earthquake: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=411b492e86e644b1b9d194d09d536afa 

Flooding: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d2bf6e3a5dd543af85001419e1dbb53b 

1. Download the Survey123 application by visiting http://doc.arcgis.com/en/survey123/download/.
2. Download Survey123 for ArcGIS Connect to deploy your Survey.
3. Download Survey123 for ArcGIS mobile applications for your users to fill out the survey. 
4. See this tutorial for more information: Deploy the Earthquake Rapid Assessment Form with Survey123

Please post comments here for feedback or suggestions for improvements to this template. For more information on the NZ Building Assessment process, see the MBIE Website.

UPDATE November 23rd 2017

The Welfare Needs Advisory Group has met and decided on a common set of minimum data. We are now hosting an XLSForm schema that reflects these changes. This is likely to change in the coming months as the adivsory group and others make modifications.

Link to XLSForm: www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=770addcdad8641cb91fa3539c92e20dc

The below information was posted prior to the November 23rd update.

This is a XLS Form for Survey123 based on the EMIS Welfare Form. This was originally created by Andrew Hansford from Thames-Coromandel and Andrew Mackay from Otago Regional Council. Once a National Welfare schema has been adopted, it will be used to re-design this Survey123 Form. 

Link to XLSForm: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=fb490ea4b64345b385a3c3807dca30c8