S341 - GIS for Incident Management

Hours: 36

Course Description:

The GIS Specialist course is designed to meet the training needs of a Geographic Information Systems Specialist (GISS) to manage the information needs of all-hazard incidents managed with the Incident Command System (ICS). The course combines lecture, discussion, and group exercises. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is one of the most efficient methods for documenting, analyzing, and managing information regarding the location of facilities, conditions, and environments affected by wildland fire, storms, floods, earthquakes, and other incidents.

NOTE: This course is a wildland fire course for people already well-versed in GIS. It is not a course for people wanting to learn GIS. For additional information and locations of upcoming courses please refer to S-341 link at http://www.odf.state.or.us/gis/gtag/gtag.html

During the course students will:

• Describe the pre-season and pre-incident duties of the GIS Specialist and identify the equipment and data needs required for incident support.
  
• Describe the dispatch and mobilization process and the procedures for incident check-in.
  
• Demonstrate how to set up the GIS Specialist work area and organization to meet the needs of the incident management team.
  
• Describe the incident planning cycle and the associated timeframes and product deadlines critical to GIS Specialist incident support.
  
• Collect data, identify and use maps, orthoimagery, graphics, and other information to produce the required incident maps.
  
• Discuss some examples of the more complex data analysis and manipulation commonly requested of a GIS Specialist.
  
• Utilize the established file structure and naming conventions to store, archive, and document all GIS Specialist incident activities.
  
  

Objectives:

Upon completing the course, students will have the knowledge and skills to respond to fire and all-hazard incidents and perform the duties of a beginning GIS Specialist. This includes:

• Identify the basic supplies and data they will need on the incident.
  
• Create the basic maps required from the GIS Specialist on an incident within established timeframes.
  
• Establish and utilize a file structure, naming convention, and documentation to manage and archive incident data.
  
  

Target Group:

Specialists and technicians actively using GIS in a land or resource management environment that are interested in utilizing those skills in all-hazard incident management. Candidates from all agencies involved in all-hazard incident management are encouraged to apply.

Minimum Instructor Qualifications:

Lead and unit instructors must be a qualified GIS Specialist (GISS)

Also see Instructor Certification at the beginning of the Field Manager's Course Guide.

Prerequisites:

• Working knowledge of the current version of ArcGIS. The course is designed for those with considerable experience working with ArcMap. This is not a class on how to use ArcMap.
  
• Adept at working within the directory structures in Windows and in the use of Windows Explorer file management and folder structures.
  
• Availability for dispatch to an incident as a GIS Specialist trainee within the next year. Availability includes supervisory approval and a personal commitment to support at least one incident.

Course Hardware Requirements:
Selected students will be required to bring a notebook PC to the course capable of running the current version of ArcMap commonly used by agencies.

Course Software Requirements:
Software requirements include the current version of ArcMap, (ArcView or ArcInfo) loaded and running on the computer you bring to the class. Administrative Rights to load software must be allowed in your laptop configuration.

This Course Description is verbatim from the NWCG Field Manager's Course Guide (156 page PDF: Adobe Acrobat Reader required) and accurate as of 12-17-2009.

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