Certain types of vulnerabilities in the emergency response and transportation system were exposed during the 9/11 attacks. Such vulnerabilities also tend to occur during natural disasters such as a major hurricane or severe snowstorm. In managing these events, urban public officials and first responders are often hampered by the lack of visually meaningful, real-time and archived information, or platforms that provide common situational awareness and promote decision-making.
To address such deficits, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation/Volpe Center, and Silicon Graphics Inc., will serve as a test site for development of a Transportation Security Situation Display (TSSD). The TSSD concept applies data fusion and situation displays to emergency management and transportation problems, providing a comprehensive tool to address homeland security and all hazards issues.
TSSD is designed to operate at municipal, metropolitan, state, regional, and national levels. Data are passed up to fill gaps and provide detail, and passed down to provide context and expertise. The system covers all transportation modes, and will integrate physical network and traffic flow data from those modes. Designed as a multi-use tool, TSSD supports situational awareness, operations, planning, simulations, research, and re-analysis of past events. It combines three-dimensional urban imagery with data integration, data visualization, and high spatial resolution. The TSSD also emphasizes the use of digital data communications, message switching, automated notifications, and surveillance and sensors that will benefit public safety and security, and create more efficiency in emergency planning and response capabilities.
The demonstration phase of TSSD will cover the first six months of the project. This will be followed by a prototype phase that will last a minimum of six months, leading to a limited operational phase. The following types of data will be integrated into the NYC test site: traffic cameras, weather information, aviation, trucking, and railroads.
