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Efforts Continue to Make Computerized Mapping Available to Emergency Workers

June 15, 2007 — With hurricane season already underway, local officials are maximizing their resources in an effort to improve the movement of first-responder agencies on the ground, including plans for a comprehensive database chock full of geographic information about the territory.
The launching of a geospatial information system (GIS) will also serve as an effective bridge between the public and private sectors, improving residents' access to such things as local maps, information about roads and highways and links to real property data for land owners, according to Lt. Gov. Gregory R. Francis.
"It's not just a pet project, it's something that will benefit everybody," he said Friday at a meeting of the V.I. Geospatial Information Council (VIGIC), a group of private- and public-sector representatives first assembled in 2005 to promote the study and implementation of the GIS.
Francis explained that he has been keeping up to date on the council's work since he assumed his new post in January. The GIS project was launched under the supervision of former Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards, who also sought to use the network to connect the many smaller entities included under the umbrella of the lieutenant governor's office.
While Friday's meeting was short, council members took an historic step by ratifying the VIGIC charter and selecting Jonetta Darden, representing the Office of Management and Budget, as head of the organization's Election Committee. Under Darden's leadership, the group will select the members of its executive council and complete the nomination process by July 18.
The council will consist of six individuals who will serve as lead delegates from the various government agencies, according to Stevie Henry, the council's interim vice chair. The executive council will work hand in hand with members of the VIGIC general council, which will also consist of representatives from more than 20 government entities and public-sector organizations.
Henry, who first introduced the project during a council meeting held last November, described the GIS as a "valuable decision-making and planning tool" that has been put to the test in 35 states.
"It will help to promote effective and efficient government through the coordinated development of geographic information and technologies," he said. "It will help us provide better customer service, and it will reduce the duplication of data collection throughout the territory. We want to collect data and use it multiple times — like information on roads and highways that can be used by Public Works, the Police Department and other first-responder agencies."
Speaking after the meeting, council member Rupert Pelle gave a more poignant example of how access to such geographical data can be beneficial to residents. A former employee at Leon County Geographic Information Systems in Tallahassee, Fla., Pelle said that he had once been told about an individual who died because emergency responders could not find her home.
"The person was injured while she was at home and she called 911,” he said. “But the emergency responders could not find where she lived, so they just stayed on the phone with the individual until she passed.”
A comprehensive GIS database, which gives emergency responders access to maps of the area, could have helped to save the victim's life, Pelle said.
Now working at the V.I. Water and Power Authority, Pelle said he still encounters similar situations while on island. "We do have problems with people not being able to describe where they live," he said. "These are the kind of things that we need to get away from. It should be that emergency services can just pull up a map and see where you're living, so they can get to you before anything happens."
Taking their cue from the National States Geographic Information Council, local VIGIC members will continue their research and work on the GIS project, and will meet once again on Nov. 14 for a more comprehensive two-day conference.
Entitled "Building a Strong Geospatial Network Throughout the Caribbean," the conference will take place at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort and Spa on St. Thomas and will focus on initiatives designed to streamline and augment the data-collection process, along with the future implementation of the local GIS network.
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