3-GIS' Newest Solution Provides a Powerful Tool for Incident Management After Latest Storms, Power Outages
DECATUR, Alabama - While municipalities and utility companies across large areas of the Midwestern and Northeastern United States work to restore utility service to their customers, 3-GIS, a global leading GIS software solutions company, highlighted its release of a powerful tool for the utility industry that could help dramatically, and efficiently, speed up that restoration of service.
3-GIS, headquartered in Decatur, Alabama, offers an incident management component with its 3-GIS Network Solutions.  3-GIS, headquartered in Decatur, Alabama, announced the Incident Management extension for its 3-GIS Network Solutions products.Those solutions continue to see real world application in incident management through a variety of emergency environments.
"These are large-scale, widespread utility outages that are impacting millions of people across entire regions," said Tom Counts, 3-GIS president. "When you're facing these situations, you need tools that help rapidly collect data and help these utilities restore power quickly and efficiently."
Added Counts, "Incident Management management with our 3-GIS Network Solutions does that."
In April 2011, after dozens of tornadic storms left widespread devastation across the southern U.S., 3-GIS Network Solutions were used to assist the Jefferson County (Alabama) Emergency Management Agency (JCEMA) in their incident management efforts.
“3-GIS has been a good friend of JCEMA for many years. When the storm hit we knew we could count on them to give the effort we needed to expedite data into our GIS,” said Allen Kniphfer, Jefferson County's EMA Chief and Coordinator.
Designed to serve an electric utility's Incident Management and Damage Assessment business needs, 3-GIS Network Solutions provide the perfect toolset to rapidly adapt and fulfill all of the data collection and office side analysis required when a utility is facing a critical outage situation.
Leveraging a utility's existing GIS repository, the 3-GIS Network Solutions Incident Management extension provides both a web-based office management tool and field data collection tool to provide a simple, full-featured Incident Management solution.
On the office side, 3-GIS Web provides a web browser-based data viewing tool with full analysis and reporting capabilities. Through 3-GIS Web, an office user can both view GIS asset information, overlay outage information from a SCADA, OMS or DMS solution, then assign work to a particular crew to assess the exact damage locations.
In the field, a crew may use a variety of tablets to download work assignments and perform an asset of damage along a feeder. 3-GIS Mobile, with full integration with GPS, is equipped to allow a crew to efficiently capture damage locations, materials required, and photos of the impacted area. The user is able to mark assigned work as completed to assist in progress tracking.
Also, as work is performed, the location information may be updated accordingly. When this work is saved back to the central repository, office workers can then perform both spatial and tabular analysis to optimally allocate resources to address the problem areas. Management reports may be generated to provide the latest information, effectively communicate storm damage status and progress throughout the company.
3-GIS Network Solutions leverage the latest in technology, a utility's investment in GIS data, and decades of industry experience to provide tools designed to meet a utility's pressing needs. In addition, 3-GIS Network Solutions have been designed to be simple to install, configure, and administer. Many utilities have been able to get 3-GIS Network Solutions deployed within a matter of days, with minimal training and IT support.
"Many organizations can utilize data from our system to assist in assessing, recovering, and permitting for the rebuild of their communities." Says Tom Counts…….added Counts. "3-GIS helps our clients do that in a fast, efficient and reliable way."
For more information on 3-GIS Network Solutions for incident management, visit the company’s website at www.3-GIS.com.
About Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency (JCEMA)
The role of the JCEMA, as the focus of the planning effort, is to develop and maintain an ongoing program of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The emergency management agency serves the chief executive by working with the departments of local governments and private sector organizations in the development of plans and capabilities responsive to those hazards which seriously threaten the county.
ABOUT 3-GIS
3-GIS is a global leading innovator of smart geospatial solutions and proud recipient of the 2011 Esri Partner’s Choice Award and the Esri Private Web Application Award. 3-GIS’ software for desktop and field use takes complex GIS information and makes it simple to understand and fast to access from every level of the enterprise. Visit www.3-GIS.com
