eMerg-GIS

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plans

eMerg-GIS is a constructive simulation GIS tool that can significantly reduce the amount of time, cost and effort required to assemble and execute a table top exercise for  Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Planning. Emergency Operations Center (EOC) staff can simulate these plans as well as municipal emergency management plans (MEMP’s) and Petroleum Emergency Response Plans (ERP’s) all within eMerg-GIS.

eMerg-GIS creates an effective computerized simulation of an emergency situation and establishes communication and coordination among all parties affected. This simulation tool establishes procedures for mobilizing response personnel and agencies by coordinating the activities of industry responders, emergency services, local authorities, Provincial Health Services, government departments and all agencies that have a key role in providing an effective response.

eMerg-GIS allows EOC personnel the ability to manage a digitally re-created Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan through simple on-screen menus or dash boards. This allows for the control of a large number of “entities” within the simulation and is organized and prioritized to provide quick access to critical information. An entity can be a person, a vehicle or even a piece of equipment. When a “Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan scenario” is created all of the entities interact, within the simulation, according to the objectives of the Plan.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan Preparation

Imagine a single tool that allows you to plan, design, test, prepare, practice and train for nearly any type of emergency, any contingency, in any sort of environmental conditions.  eMerg-GIS is capable of doing all this and more. This digital constructive simulation tool can capture your public safety and emergency preparedness plan in a dynamic and coordinated electronic “document”, in much the same way that GIS is useful as a centre point for gathering, displaying and understanding geographic data.  A “Digital Emergency Response and Preparedness Plan”, eMerg-GIS, will allow you to gather and input the data once and then use it many times thereafter.

How is eMerg-GIS used within the Public Safety industry?

• Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan Preparation - Digital “table top exercises”


• Validation of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plans with other MEMP’s, ERP’s and RHA’s.


• Annual update of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plans, done digitally, for continuity and currency.


• Digitally re-created Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plans for Public Safety Training Briefings.


• After Action Review (AAR) feature that allows for playback for corrective training purposes.

Managing Table Top Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Exercises

eMerg-GIS can establish communication and coordination procedures for mobilizing response personnel and agencies. Using dash boards that coordinate the activities of industry responders, eMerg-GIS is a more cost effective management tool compared to manpower-intensive, time-consuming and costly table top exercises. Additionally, eMerg-GIS will provide a play back feature, After Action Review (AAR) that allows for the review of the exercise for corrective training purposes and safety briefings. A public safety and emergency preparedness plan, re-created digitally, will significantly reduce the amount of time, cost and effort required to assemble and execute table top ERP exercises.

Features & Benefits

• Inter-agency Operations.  Public safety and emergency preparedness plan information is provided to EOC personnel through simple on-screen menus or dash boards. Once this information is provided, EOC personnel must use it to interpret the actual situation at the incident, anticipate future events, and allocate resources appropriately. These menus/dash boards coordinate the activities of industry responders, emergency services, local authorities, Provincial Health Services, government departments and all agencies that have a key role in providing an effective response.


• Resource Management. All of the resources available for use during the public safety and emergency preparedness exercise are imported into the eMerg-GIS database as part of the exercise scenario creation process.  As in real life, EOC personnel must allocate and manage these resources during the course of the exercise.  The eMerg-GIS entities (people, vehicles, and equipment) consume resources (water, food, medical supplies, gasoline, etc.) and these must be resupplied or they will no longer function.


• Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan Validation. eMerg-GIS is a constructive simulation tool that implements and validates Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness plans. EOC personnel operate within the same venue and with the same exercise resources as during an actual emergency. During the plan implementation, problems are noted regarding the validation of the plan and these are highlighted through the After Action Review (AAR) feature allowing for corrective training purposes.


• Simple to Operate. The eMerg-GIS software was designed from the outset to be operated by staff with basic computer skills.  Within two hours of instruction, EOC personnel learn to operate the simulation stations (laptops) and on-screen menus/dash boards. 


• Low Cost & Easy Maintenance. The eMerg-GIS software operates on today’s laptops and doesn’t require expensive computer operating systems to run. Once data is entered into the eMerg-GIS software it can be re-used on subsequent Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness exercises. The database is created through simple to use forms and is easy to control and maintain.