EMMU Mobile Emergency Response GIS / GPS Mapping Trailer and Geo-Photo

As I was looking back at where EMMU had come from and where EMMU Aerial is today, it was obvious we had come a long way and learned a lot along the way, mostly through our emergency mobile mapping and oblique aerial photography systems.

From the early days of Emergency Mobile Mapping Unit or EMMU in 2000 where we provided a true mobile emergency GIS response capability with our GIS quick response trailer to support wildland firefighters, first responders and search and rescue professionals. 

Read more about the original concept of the EMMU mobile emergency response GIS / GPS mapping system

During an emergency or crisis, maps play a critical role in responding to the event, search and rescue, mitigating further damage, and understanding the extent of the impacts. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an appropriate platform to organize the extensive amount of spatial data both generated and utilized during an emergency event. A properly designed and implemented GIS will allow managers and responders to access critical location data in a timely manner so lives and property can be protected and restored.

GIS works effectively in all four phases of the disaster management cycle; preparation, mitigation, response and recovery.

 GIS can play a valuable and vital role in;

•             Hurricanes

•             Tornadoes

•             Floods

•             Wild Fires

•             Earthquakes

•             Volcanoes

•             Tsunamis

•             Landslides

•             Search and Rescue

•             Epidemics

•             Social unrest

•             Toxic spills

EMMU GIS Trailers are capable of quickly and efficiently compiling, processing, managing and printing raw data points onto either full-size 36" or 42" color plots, or on easy to distribute 11"x17" pages. The EMMU GIS trailers also have the ability to project maps inside the trailer for emergency managers to quickly survey and understand an ever changing situation. EMMU has top-of-the line hardware, current ESRI GIS software suites, and experienced specialists to provide a GIS solution that will exceed expectations for quality and speed of service.

Opportunities for Mobile GIS Systems end with the limits of your imagination. These systems are ideal for emergency management, private, corporate, county and industrial research where onsite mapping technologies and experienced GIS / GPS specialists can save time and cut costs considerably

EMMU GPS Specialists can also assist the incident commander by providing GPS, GIS data integration. GPS is one of the most efficient methods for documenting information regarding the location of facilities, conditions, and environments affected by Wildfire, Floods, Earthquakes, and other incidents.

EMMU GIS units are dispatched out of Central Florida with a fully qualified GIS/GPS Specialist.  Additional GIS /GPS Specialists are available upon request

Standard GIS Unit Features

•             8.5 x 24 ft Self contained climate controlled trailer

•             Meets OSHA work environment requirements

•             Workspace for a minimum of 3 workers

•             AC power source (Generator)

•             High Speed Satellite Internet Connection

•             UPS and line conditioner system

•             All workstations, printers and plotters are networked

•             1 Xeon 3.0 MHz Desktop

•             2 Core 2 Duo Mobile Desktops

•             HP 800 PS Large Scale Plotter

•             HP 9600 11x17 Printer

•             Laser copier, printer, fax, scanner

•             Multiple GPS units

•             4x4 ATV with GPS  (Optional)

Installed software includes

•             ESRI ArcGIS 9.1 and 9.2

•             ESRI ArcView 3.3

•             Spatial Analyst

•             Fire Incident Mapping Tool

•             Ventura Tools

•             DNR Garmin GPS software

•             Adobe Photoshop

•             Microsoft Office 

EMMU Inc. also offers Oblique Aerial Photography; we use a professional-grade digital camera with top of the line lenses. The resulting images can be filtered to remove moderate smoke/haze, and enhanced to identify vegetation types. We also utilize Gyro-stabilizing equipment to keep the camera still at the moment the photo is snapped. Thanks to this added stabilization, photographs taken from an airplane or helicopter do not contain the blur seen on many photos. When needed, these cameras can be coupled with a GPS to provide the Latitude and Longitude coordinates in the photo data and on the photo if needed.

Years later, EMMU Aerial had developed their skills through extensive operational aerial photography, remote sensing and UAS surveillance work with the military and government agencies. From these beginnings with military systems, we now provide turnkey and flexible training solutions and services for public safety agencies and organizations throughout the U.S.

2 Strangers And A Drone Help Rescue Veteran Trapped By N.C. Flooding

In this unlikely tale, two strangers and a drone played crucial roles in rescuing a man trapped in his flooded home in Hope Mills, N.C.

Drone photographer Quavas Hart decided to take his drone out on Sunday to capture images of some of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew.

"I happened to come across this neighborhood that was completely submerged in water," Hart tells The Two-Way. He posted a picture on Twitter showing the dramatic scene of a cul-de-sac with floodwaters up to the eaves of the roofs.

As it turned out, Navy veteran Chris Williams and his elderly dog Lana were trapped in the house with one blue shutter to the right of the picture.

Williams thought he was out of the hurricane's path when his power went out a day and a half before, according to his twin brother, Craig Williams, who lives in Texas. "During that day and a half," Craig told The Two-Way, "the hurricane shifted paths and was coming directly towards him."

Chris went to sleep on Saturday night — and woke up to a bang. The surging water had broken through his back door, sending furniture crashing around the house. He grabbed Lana and raced to the highest point in the house, a small room where he had some food stored. "He spent the next 14 hours sitting there," Craig said.

During this time, both Craig and Chris tried to contact local emergency services to reach rescue crews — to no avail. Chris' phone line was down but the brothers were able to stay in touch over Facebook Messenger. When Craig finally got in contact with rescuers on Sunday, they eventually told him they weren't able to get to his brother's area.

Then Craig spotted Quavas' dramatic cul-de-sac picture on Twitter, and wrote a joking note to Chris: "Hey, at least you're not this guy."

It only took a few seconds for Chris to respond: "Hey, that's my house."

Craig immediately reached out to Quavas with this plea: "Any chance you can boat him out of there? He's trapped upstairs."

But Craig messaged again that he was "completely serious." He explained that his brother had an "old dog with him that can't swim."

So Quavas rushed back to the flooded neighborhood to try to help rescue Chris. He says he deployed the drone again, and spotted a FEMA boat nearby. He managed to signal the boat to follow his drone, and then led the rescuers to Chris' house.

Quavas is also a veteran — he says he served in the Army for 10 years, with deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The father of four left the military in July 2012 and went to film school. "It's kind of like replacing my weapon with my camera, from my perspective."

He's still coming to terms with the serendipitous rescue. "It's just so wicked crazy amazing, humbling, I don't know how to explain it," he says. Quavas adds that his home was also damaged in the floods.

Drone Helps Find Man Suffering From Heart Attack on River

Iowa first responders turned to a new colleague when searching for missing boaters.

CNN July 15, 2016

A 20-person team was searching for a grandfather and granddaughter who were stranded in a logjam on the East Fork of the Des Moines River. David Penton, emergency management coordinator for Kossuth County, could faintly hear the cries of the missing persons, but the setting sun was making it more difficult to see them amid the thickly wooded riverbank.

So Penton called a colleague and had him rush to the scene with a drone.

Within three minutes of takeoff, they'd found the duo by watching the live stream from the DJI Phantom's camera. The drone then hovered overhead so that the first responders could use its location to guide them to the grandfather and granddaughter.

Penton said he expected the victims would have been found without the drone, but using it allowed them to find them faster. Once discovered, the man fell to his knees as he was suffering from a heart attack.

"Without the help of that drone, time could've been an issue for him," Penton said.

The man, Thomas Fitzpatrick, was rushed to a hospital. Penton said late Thursday that Fitzpatrick was expected to be upgraded from critical to stable condition.

Drones are proving valuable to people such as Penton, who can benefit from inexpensive aerial photos and videos. Drones are expected to become increasingly common in August as the federal government's rules for commercial drone use will go into effect. The drone industry estimates that by 2025, drones will lead to 100,000 new jobs and an economic impact of $82 billion.

Since acquiring the drone in May, Penton had only used it in test flights. He said the drone performed so well that he plans to get a second one. The drone Penton relied on -- a DJI Phantom -- weighs three pounds and costs about $1,000.

"It gave that patient or that victim reassurance that they have been found," Penton said of the missing persons first seeing a drone hovering overhead. "We're here. We've rolled out every asset that we have to find them."