Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/29869
proportions. Nearly 80 percent of the city experienced flooding, and more than 1,500 people were killed across Louisiana. Of New Orleans’ 180,000 houses, 110,000 were flooded, and half of those sat for days or weeks in more than six feet of water. After survivors had been rescued and floodwaters began to recede, the city needed to quickly initiate damage assessment to commercial and residential buildings. Although inspecting these structures was going to be a daunting task, officials in the Department of Safety and Permits had one important advantage: all critical building, permit and other land information was intact, because the city had opted to store its data in an Accela Automation database in California. Working collaboratively with the city, Accela enhanced the application to facilitate recovery activities, includ- ing information gathering; mobile inspections of dam- aged buildings; and reporting to the mayor’s office, the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA. The emergency- response solution also included 25 Toughbook rugged laptops, donated by Panasonic, which were loaded with Accela’s mobile government software. To facilitate GIS mapping, digital map developer Tele Atlas and the city provided the GIS street network and parcel data used by the application. Automating the damage-assessment process expe- dited the department’s work, and results were uploaded daily to provide city officials with immediate reporting. The system delivered color-coded maps that provided visual analysis of most heavily damaged areas to help prioritize areas where power could be restored. New Orleans focused its automated recovery efforts into three phases: damage assessment, information dissemination and reconstruction management. • In Phase I, city inspectors were dispatched to the field to perform inspections in New Orleans and surrounding communities. Inspection results were recorded on the mobile devices and, wherever wire- less hotspots were available, the data were automati- cally transmitted to the agency database in real time. Otherwise, data were stored in the Toughbooks and uploaded to the agency database when inspectors returned to the office. The application also allowed inspectors to identify properties using several geolocation tools, including GPS, and tag buildings in red, yellow or green, depend- ing on the extent of damage. After the department’s inspection team was up and running, they were able to process more than 2,000 inspections per day—more than 125,000 inspections in only 10 weeks. • Phase II occurred after all the data had been gath- ered. The city needed to disseminate this information to the public, FEMA and other agencies to expedite the procurement of relief funds. Citizens were able to access and view damage-assessment maps of their Mobility/GPS Special Issue lFollowing Hurricane Dolly, McAllen’s field- based inspectors used mobile systems to access pre-loaded maps and data regarding lot lines, addresses and owner information for real-time damage assessment. properties online and take immediate steps to return home or begin reconstruction. • Phase III continued for a few years after the hurri- cane struck. New Orleans provided 24/7 online permit processing to streamline and manage the reconstruc- tion process. The city maintains a robust e-permitting capability to this day. Each of these hurricanes unleashed major destruc- tion and created enormous challenges for the govern- ments and residents of the affected communities. In some cases, local governments leveraged their exist- ing enterprise and mobile GIS solutions or applied them in new ways to accelerate recovery. Another decided to implement a new system in response to its disaster. But the message is clear: GIS-enriched mobile solu- tions can be one of local government’s most valuable tools on the road to recovery. Brian Wienke is a senior product manager with Accela Inc.; e-mail: info@accela.com. A P R I L 2 O 1 1 / W W W . G E O P L A C E . C O M 29