Publishing GIS To PDF For Homeland Security

Transcription

1 Publishing GIS To PDF For Homeland Security Andy Skillen, National Account Mgr, Layton Graphics, Inc. Introduction Since September 11, 2001 there has been increased focus on protecting our homeland. There is a federal report titled The National Strategy For Homeland Security that goes into detail on all the initiatives. This white paper deals specifically with three of the initiatives outlined in the federal report: - Enable critical infrastructure information sharing - Streamline information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement agencies - Enable seamless communication among all responders Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow analysts to tie together information from many different sources in a spatial environment. GIS is the cornerstone for managing critical infrastructure information such as maps, aerial photography, database information about objects in maps (buildings, power plants, chemical storage plants). GIS also allow for analysis of risk, and modeling of What-If scenarios to plan and prepare for a response to disasters. There are literally thousands of city and county governments that are currently involved in building GIS systems, partly in support of homeland security initiatives. Ultimately, this investment will allow First Responders to access this information in an emergency situation so that lives can be saved and damage mitigated. Since disasters may require help from First Responders from outside a given city, county or even state, it makes sense to publish critically needed data in a file format that anybody can quickly and easily work with using the free Adobe Reader. And since Adobe Reader is on virtually every computer (almost a billion computers), it is ideal for sharing of critical infrastructure information. The Players There are many players involved in creating, analyzing and publishing GIS information. City, county, state and federal organizations are all involved in data collection and analysis in support of homeland security. Many government agencies and private sector organizations work together to share and build GIS data and modeling systems. There are commercial software and hardware vendors that offer solutions for bringing all the data together within GIS. Other specialized hardware vendors provide entire control center systems for monitoring protection at high value targets (security patrols, monitoring panels, security cameras, hidden ground sensors). 3D terrain modeling is coming of age. All this data needs to be provided ( published ) to end-users. The front lines in Homeland Security are the First Responders: Police, Fire, EMS, EMA, 911, Military and others who rush in when others are rushing out. There is an inherent conflict in asking GIS Analysts to publish their mapping data in PDF. Even when the end-user prefers to work with a PDF file, many GIS professionals feel that PDF is just a dumb image map not worthy of distribution. To understand this conflict it makes sense to compare and contract the objectives of GIS versus PDF.

2 Objectives of GIS versus PDF The objective of the GIS professional is to deliver accurate dynamic real-time information in response to modeled situations for rapid response by the end-user. The objective of publishing in PDF is to allow for broad distribution of data to the public so that anybody, anywhere can easily access and work with the information. The question becomes how to bridge the gap between dynamic GIS analysis versus ease-of-use associated with the static PDF publishing model. Dynamic might mean real-time analysis of factors such as plumes, wind speed and proximity in a real time modeling environment that assigns values to live data and reflects the ongoing nature of a threat. PDF clearly can t offer the end-user this type of functionality. The challenge then becomes how to define which end-users require true GIS functionality, and which endusers can get by with using PDF data that can be updated weekly or monthly. PDF won t replace GIS but since over 90% of end-users of GIS data are not GIS savvy it makes sense to explore what PDF can do vis-à-vis GIS viewers. PDF for GIS Adobe has made great strides in advancing the PDF file format for usage in Engineering. Adobe Reader 7.0 allows for performing many functions that are familiar to GIS users: the ability to turn layers on or off, the ability to view attributes by placing your Hand tool over an object in a map, the ability to Query on attributes and zoom to a location of interest on a map, the ability to navigate on PDF bookmarks to a particular street address/intersection, and the ability to work with both vector maps and raster imagery (ortho/aerial). Adobe Acrobat 7.0 allows users to save a PDF map so that anybody with Adobe Reader 7.0 can do redline and markup on a map and save the PDF map locally (all for free). Extensions to Adobe Reader allow for even more powerful GIS viewing capabilities. MAP2PDF for Adobe Reader (free plug-in software) allows for the ability to view coordinates (lat-long or northing-easting), re-project to other coordinate systems, measure distance (bearing/azimuth) and interact with GPS devices in real-time all for free with Adobe Reader. Adobe Reader will never provide real-time analysis on live data, but most First Responders don t require that. For those end-users that require real-time editing or modeling, GIS tools and training is the way to go. For those non-technical users that need GIS viewing capability, Adobe Reader is more than sufficient. The usage of PDF maps in the field originated in the telecommunications and utilities industries where tens of thousands of field technicians were equipped with Panasonic Toughbooks running PDF maps to do their repair work. PDF was chosen due to its simplicity many field technicians did not know how to type and had never used a computer before. When publishing data to tens or hundreds of thousands of potential First Responders, PDF is the clear choice. Data Collection Many cities and counties are in the process of building their GIS. The data sources are varied. Almost every county and 911 center has parcel data or tax maps. A base map of all roads (with street addresses/intersection/centerline data) for city and county is common. Various free sources of GIS data can be obtained from state DOT s or from TeleAtlas and others. Many cities and counties are in the process of acquiring aerial

3 (ortho) imagery. Applications such as Skyline TerraExplorer offer the ability to view imagery of urban centers in an extruded 3D model with attributes embedded as polygons at the base of buildings. There are web based applications such as Microsoft StreetAtlas that are being used in the field (some SWAT teams currently use this application). In short, much of the focus of the GIS industry today is on collecting and building a modern GIS. One of the biggest challenges in publishing and using all this data is that it comes from many different heterogeneous systems in a multitude of file formats. Almost all of these file formats can be converted to PDF and presented seamlessly to the end-user as PDF in Adobe Reader. Data Analysis Once the data is collected and created within the GIS, the analysts begin the modeling work. In the case of Homeland Security, modeling might involve assessing risk, and identifying vulnerabilities such as pipelines, water treatment (chlorine) plants, nuclear facilities, utilities, chemical storage tanks, and symbolic targets. The models then allow for estimating potential risks associated with various attacks. GIS analysts are able to attach probability to various scenarios. Although PDF can t reflect these types of modeling scenarios, it should be possible to allow any First Responder to be given a CD and a laptop running Adobe Reader, and within a few minutes intuitively get up to speed on taking over a particular planned emergency response situation. PDF is also ideal for creating paper backups of all the data. Since PDF is built on postscript (the language of printers) you can reliably plot PDF maps to 100% scale on most large format plotters. The current PDF specification allows for maps with page sizes up to 1 mile by 1 mile in virtual space (more than any plotter can handle). Data Publishing The last step in the process, after data collection and data analysis, is data publishing. In the case of Homeland Security this means putting information in the hands of the people that will use it. Giving First Responders something now is a whole lot better than giving them something better after the emergency is over. What follows is a potential scenario that First Responders might face: A water treatment plant in downtown Gotham City is attacked. The resulting explosion creates of large plume of deadly chlorine gas that is drifting southeast at 5 miles per hour. GIS modeling allows the analyst to predict the path of the plume, estimate casualty rates, perform perimeter analysis and calculate additional statistics and probabilities associated with the first attack. The response plan calls for establishing evacuation routes, attempted interdiction of the bad guys, and setting evacuation plans into motion. Data Publishing begs the question: what have the First Responders in YOUR city or county been given already, that will allow them to respond to this type of disaster. The answer for each city or county will be wildly different. A point-and-click PDF based response solution would be a useful complement to the current end-to-end solutions provided by GIS vendors. There is so much emphasis put on data collection and data analysis that there is probably very little data publishing to the end-users happening today. To illustrate what is currently possible using PDF, here is what a First Responder can currently do with a PDF based mapping system:

4 The First Responder opens Adobe Reader and sees a vector index map (base map of the entire coverage area). In the Bookmarks, the end-user can easily navigate to any street address or intersection in the city/county, or use the Zoom tool to zoom-into the index map. Clicking on any grid of the index map allows for viewing any grid of the city as a raster aerial image. Attribute data that is embedded into the image map can be viewed as rollover or pop-ups. The map can be published with layers, scale and in any coordinate system. Bookmarks in the image map link to instructions on how to respond to particular emergencies. For a Chlorine Gas disaster, there are additional links to Procedures for Evacuation (Word document saved to PDF). The 911 Center, and any additional helpers, can click on parcels in PDF maps and call residents (phone numbers embedded as attributes) to tell them to evacuate. The Measure tool allows the first responder to measure off the proximity of the chlorine gas to establish a perimeter. A GPS device (Garmin Etrex Vista for example) attached to Adobe Reader allows end-users to view exactly where they are on the image map. CAD drawings converted to PDF for all highvalue buildings can be embedded into the map and made available for firefighters to view. Police cars equipped with GPS can send signals to a control center that views a PDF map showing where each patrol car is sitting on the evacuation route. In short, all the data from just about any format can be seamlessly presented to end-users via Adobe Reader. This functionality is all free to Adobe Reader users. Everybody knows how to use Adobe Reader. NGA NGA ( is a Department of Defense combat support agency and a member of the National Intelligence Community whose mission is to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of our national security. There is currently an initiative called echart underway at NGA. echart is an NGA funded program to provide geospatial intelligence products in a Commercial-Off-The- Shelf (COTS) format. The Portable Document Format (PDF) is an ISO format that provides outstanding characteristics for NGA data. PDF supports digital viewing as well as high quality printing or plotting. PDF stores both raster and vector data in a small single 2 to 6 megabyte file size including product metadata. All NGA contract produced products are delivered in the echart PDF format and are available on NGA gateways. The NGA chose PDF as a complement to the milspec format due to several factors: small file sizes for both raster and vector data, COTS geo-referenced PDF, ISO PDF/X attributes for blind exchange of print data ensures reliable printing, embedded XML metadata for improved cataloging, search and discovery, and embedded role-based PKI certificates ensure customers receive trusted content. Another advantage of PDF is the ability to integrate other intelligent file types such as GPS referenced video. In addition, the free MAP2PDF plug-in for Adobe Reader allows for viewing coordinates, re-projecting between coordinate systems, measuring distance/azimuth/bearing, and interacting with GPS devices. Army and Marine Corps are actively involved in testing of MAP2PDF for military use. If PDF is a good way to publish GIS to the military, it is an ideal way to publish data to First Responders. Military training far exceeds what First Responders across the country will get in terms of responding to a crisis situation.

5 Secure Distribution of Data Adobe Acrobat comes with robust security features. The ability to encode 128-bit encryption on PDF files, or publish data using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or Public Private Key (PPK) technology is standard functionality right out of the Acrobat box. In addition, Adobe Acrobat works natively with Verity, Entrust and almost all COTS software for placing higher levels of encryption on data. Hence, PDF is an ideal file format for publishing secure data either on CD or over the internet. Adobe has been working closely with DoD on testing PDF security features for government use. Conclusion First Responders across all counties in our nation need to be equipped to respond to emergencies using Adobe Reader. GIS Analysts can decide what information will most likely be needed in an emergency situation, and start to provide this information in PDF today. In a real emergency, First Responders don t need GIS information in real-time, they need easy-to-use information real fast. It is more important to get 50% of the data out to First Responders today, than to get 100% of the data to them after an emergency happens. For more information on using PDF for GIS, please feel free to contact Andy Skillen at (770)