Mapping Fire Department Data

One of the common concerns that fire departments have when it comes to mapping is “I collect all of this data in RMS, how do I map it?”  This is a common concern with many fire departments, especially those that have little to no GIS resources and have the standard databases like FireRMS (Zoll Data Systems), FirePrograms, or FDM.  Many of these come with mapping modules but it still may be a challenge to map information.

How do I map data?

There are several ways to map existing data.  There is also ways to “model” data as well.  We’ll go over both of those briefly

Map existing data

Mapping existing data relies on taking location data and mapping either actual or derived values from the data.  Examples of location data include

• X and Y coordinates (Longitude and Latitude)
  
• Address
  
• Grid information (Map grids or some departments have Fire Demand Zone Grids)
  

You can map actual data for example the location of certain types of calls, the repeat location of calls, or response times for individual calls.  You can derive data as well and this is common for mapping based upon a grid.  For example you can take and calculate the average response time per grid.  This can be created using Crystal Reports or MS Excel and then outputing to a table that is readable in a GIS application (DBF, XLS, CSV, MDB, Etc….). 

To the right is an example of a grids used by a fire department.  These grids were divided based on barriers like hills, freeways, railroads, and water bodies.  Usually most fire departments will have smaller grids where there seems to be a high call volume density and larger grids where there isn’t a large call volume. 

Modeling data

Another way to map data is to model data.  There are two key benefits to modeling data.

• You can create scenarios (i.e. station placement) and examine the pros and cons, where as mapping existing data won’t directly tell you good placement if you haven’t run response from that location
  
• Creates information in areas where there isn’t a large call volume
  
• Most CAD systems that run “Live Routing” is an example of “modelling” calls.
  

Some disadvantages are

• Poor or inaccurate base data to run the modeling on
  
• Bases data may not include information that reflects things like steep hill, tight turns, speed bumps, or other things that impedes access
  

Examples

To the left is an example of mapping call locations bases on a longitude and latitude.  This is a simple map that just shows unit and call locations.  Below is the table that this was derived from. 

Radio_Name	Vehicle_ID	Time_PreAs	Time_Assig	Time_Enrou	Time_Arriv	Time_Stage	Time_Conta	Time_Delay	Time_Call_	PrimaryVeh	AlarmLevel	X	Y
A73	418		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	1	0	-122.04268200000	47.57355700000
M14	451		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	0	0	-122.04268200000	47.57355700000
A83	397		7/1/2005						7/1/2005	0	0	-122.04268200000	47.57355700000
A71	386		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	1	0	-122.03309700000	47.53005300000
E81	408		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	1	0	-122.06640100000	47.61149800000
A72	389		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	1	0	-122.05409200000	47.54913100000
E71	377		7/1/2005	7/1/2005	7/1/2005				7/1/2005	1	0	-122.03466300000	47.53688600000
A88	401		7/2/2005						7/2/2005	1	0	-121.76242100000	47.44306300000
E87	414		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	0	0	-121.76242100000	47.44306300000
A71	386		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-122.04113300000	47.53011100000
M14	451		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	0	0	-122.04113300000	47.53011100000
E78	406		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-122.12265800000	47.49882500000
E85	411		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-121.89684300000	47.64792800000
A83	397		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-122.04268200000	47.57355700000
M1	457		7/2/2005	7/2/2005					7/2/2005	0	0	-122.04268200000	47.57355700000
E75	404		7/2/2005						7/2/2005	1	0	-122.09900300000	47.56533900000
A72	389		7/2/2005	7/2/2005					7/2/2005	0	0	-122.09900300000	47.56533900000
E73	417		7/2/2005						7/2/2005	0	0	-122.09900300000	47.56533900000
E71	377		7/2/2005	7/2/2005					7/2/2005	0	0	-122.09900300000	47.56533900000
TR71	388		7/2/2005	7/2/2005					7/2/2005	0	0	-122.09900300000	47.56533900000
A82	396		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-122.06121800000	47.62831900000
M19	458		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	0	0	-122.06121800000	47.62831900000
A71	386		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005			7/2/2005	1	0	-122.04172700000	47.52071500000
A81	395		7/2/2005	7/2/2005	7/2/2005				7/2/2005	1	0	-122.06480800000	47.62375500000
82ST	426		7/2/2005						7/2/2005	0	0	-122.06480800000	47.62375500000