New Zealand GIS for Emergency Management (NZGIS4EM) continues to evolve and grow with over 400 members in the community now.
Key milestones have been the launch of our website and a recommended symbology standard for the GIS4EM community. Check out nzgis4em.com for both. The symbology is a draft and feedback is welcome to nzgis4em@gmail.com.
Nationally two important projects are happening that NZGIS4EM members have an active role in. One is MCDEM’s Common Operating Picture (COP) programme of work and the other is LINZ’s Key data sets for resilience project.
It’s great to see these key projects being driven at a national level to promote national level consistency and improvement in emergency information systems and data.
Two significant events have happened recently. The first was the Pigeon Valley Fire which was a massive effort by GIS volunteers over several weeks with many lessons learnt about how the Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) works, where GIS can fit in the CIMS framework and how effective GIS can be at providing near real-time situational awareness if implemented online.
The second was the West Coast floods which were an excellent example of collaboration between regional CDEM and GIS with NZGIS4EM being used to muster remote support when required. Again, the value of online GIS to enable remote response support and provide near real-time situational awareness is starting to shine through.
The first formal committee came to fruition in August 2018. The members of the committee are:
Derek Phyn (Waikato Regional Council) - Chair
Susan Shaw (LINZ) – Deputy Chair
Kate Waterhouse (Bay of Plenty Regional Council) – Secretary
Anne Shanahan (Tauranga City Council) – Upper North Island Liaison
Teresa Simcox (Hawkes Bay CDEM) – Lower North Island Liaison
Anna Mason (DPMC/MCDEM) – National Agency Liaison
Gavin Tredgold (Canterbury Civil Defence) – South Island Liaison
Ed Cook (Eagle Technology)
Andrew Hansford (MPI)
Arvin de la Cruz (Hamilton City Council)
Matthew Hughes (University of Canterbury)
Craig MacAlpine (Fire Emergency NZ)
Jonathon Moore (Wellington City Council)
Gail Yearbury (Northland Regional Council)
Louise Gibson (Federated Farmers)
The Committee held their annual face to face meeting and SIG in Wellington in late February and the AGM/SIG will be in Auckland in August.
If you want to learn more then join our community on Slack by emailing nzgis4em@gmail.com