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20 October 2001

Annual Conference: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)

The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is the premier professional association for those involved in improving our urban and regional environments through the effective use of information technology. Professionals in planning, economic development, information systems, emergency services, natural resources, public works, transportation, and other departments within state and local government have depended on URISA for professional development and educational needs since 1963. Through its international, national and local chapter operations, URISA serves nearly 8,000 professionals.

39th Annual Conference and Exposition
October 20-24, 2001
Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach, California

Monday October 22, 2001
3:45-5:00 PM 
Plenary Session

Special Added Session
GIS in New York City: Response to the World Trade Center Attack

The URISA 2001 Program Committee has put together this additional plenary session to address the recent terrorist attacks in New York City, presented by individuals who are directly involved:

The City of New York has been using and developing GIS capabilities and data for at least two decades.  Most recently, the City is involved in the implementation of a Citywide GIS Utility whose role it is to facilitate the sharing of data among a large number of City departments and agencies and public utilities.  The GIS Utility has established an extensive database of digital orthophotography, planimetric, property, street and other map data as well as related tabular date sets.  These data are made available to all participating agencies. 

When the World Center was attacked the GIS Utility responded by establishing an Emergency Mapping and Data Center (EMDC) in the Emergency Operations Center.  The EMDC operated on a 24 hour basis throughout the event providing a broad range of maps and data to the emergency response organizations.  In addition to this operation individual City departments including Fire and Police employed GIS in direct support of their operations and FEMA established a GIS operation at the Javits Center to support various agencies.

This session will begin with an overview of GIS in the City of New York and will then review the specific activities that were carried out during the emergency, the lessons learned from these activities and the significance of these lessons to other jurisdictions and other types of emergencies.  The session will close with a question and answer period.  The session will be conducted by persons who participated directly in the emergency operations.

Mike Kevany, Plangraphics, Inc, Silver Spring, MD
James Hall, Plangraphics Inc., Silver Spring, MD
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency