Presentation from State of the Map US 2014. Using OpenStreetMap as a base, building a Geo Data Assistant for First Responders based on Open Source/Open Data concepts
2. Relevant Types
of Geo Data
• Enhanced 911 Addressing for GPS
• Hydrant data (location)
• Hydrants on water systems (capacity)
• Dry Hydrants (lift, seasonal issues)
• Ponds, Streams
• Landing Zones for Medical Evacuation
• Hazmat
• PrePlan data
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4. How to Deliver
• The data is usually already
“somewhere”
• County, City GIS departments
• Often unwieldy
• One Capital District department used a
rolodex in each truck for hydrant data
• Albany NY hydrant data on paper maps
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5. Street Grids in Old
Cities
Cortland Street Not Cortland Street
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7. Geo Data Assistant
• WiFi only Android Tablet (Nexus 7)
• OsmAnd GPS application
• Plugin to support Emergency response
specific features
• Additional data may come from
elsewhere
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8. Internet/Cell Access
not a requirement
• Poor to non-existent service in many
rural areas
• Good tablets have more than enough
storage to support application & data
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9. Mutual Aid
• Primary use case (at least initially) is
Mutual Aid
• Departments/Engine companies
responding outside of their normal
operational area
• Firefighters experience many problems
responding out of area
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addressing in large apartment complexes
lack of knowledge about neighborhoods
water system issues - private hydrants, no way to determine capacity of hydrants
13. Hydrant Gallery
• Wynantskill, NY
• AWWA color scheme
• Blue Caps & Bonnet
• Class AA Hydrant
• > 1500 GPM
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capacity helpful, but you don’t know the capacity until you see the hydrant
14. AWWA Classification
Class Flow (@ 20PSI)
Cap &
Bonnet Color
AA More than 1500 GPM Blue
A
Between 1500 GPM and 1000
GPM
Green
B
Between 1000 GPM and 500
GPM
Yellow
C Less than 500 GPM Red
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distinguish between static (head) pressure and pressure while operating hydrant
15. Capacity
• Why is capacity important?
• Big fire, need lots of capacity
• Drawdown of water in main can
damage appliances in residences
(notably hot water heaters)
• Risk of main collapse
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16. Hydrant Gallery
• Bethlehem, NY
• Green = large main
• Orange = medium
main
• Red = small main
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17. Hydrant Gallery
• Tag on Steamer
connection
instead of paint
for flow
capacity
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problem with painters
19. Snow
• “If I have to dig one
out of the snow it
better be a good
one”
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20. Out of Service
• Not all Hydrants
are operational
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21. Out of Service
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can’t see out of service condition until you see the hydrant
22. Out of service
(But it’s a secret)
• NYC “Stubby”
hydrant
• High pressure
system operated
from ca 1905
through 1979
• Stubby hydrants
still around in
NYC
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reference extreme mutual aid
23. Is this a hydrant?
• Rural VFD, no
pressurized
water system
• Lawn
Ornament
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29. Color Code extension
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color code for capacity
Use case: observing hydrant capacity while riding in to the scene, stopping to
start laying hose on the way in
30. OSM Tagging
• Some current tags
• emergency=fire_hydrant
• fire_hydrant:type={pillar,pond,underground}
• colour={red,yellow,green,blue,...}
• diameter=12 inches
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pillar - used in Germany, correct in US usage but not common. not used in UK.
diameter - main diameter
pressure - in bar (head pressure?), not relevant to US operating practice
pond - inappropriate conflation
31. Capacity Tags
• Proposed, not currently official
• fire_hydrant:capacity=700 GPM
• fire_hydrant:class={AA,A,B,C}
• fire_hydrant:water_source={main,
pond,stream}
• Capacity on streams?
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LPM for non-US jurisdictions
33. Other Properties
• Outlet sizes, threads
• Wrench type and size
• triangular, square, pentagonal,
hexagonal
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• Orientation
• Steamer valve perpendicular to curb vs 45 degree angle
Orientation probably not that important
35. Landing Zones
• Landing Zones (Med Evac)
• current tags that are relevant
• name
• operator
• need to characterize additional
information
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don’t want to use the existing aviation tagging, as that is for general purpose landing
facilities, not for emergency LZs
36. Hazmat Data
• In the US, this actually information of
public record
• Probably not be appropriate in OSM
• Candidate for private data store
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37. Hazmat Use Cases
• Materials in building that’s on fire?
• Materials in adjacent buildings
• Plume direction/danger based on
prevailing winds
• CAMEOfm capability that may be
easy to integrate
• Potential interaction with GPS
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38. Other Considerations
• Policy on overriding One Way, Turn
Restrictions
• Do we need different maps for different
classes of emergency vehicles?
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39. Contact Info
• primary: rwelty@averillpark.net
• secondary: nfgusedautoparts@gmail.com
• OSM: nfgusedautoparts
• Twitter: @nfgusedautopart
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40. Bonus Hydrant Image
• Dry Barrel
• Valve at water main
• Safety Flange
designed to fail
• at grade level
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