Nordic Geospatial Blog –

UPDATE 20110822
Point and counterpoint in the US context – @MotherJones compiles a DoJ database of counterterrorism cases over the last ten years -

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/terror-trials-numbers

UPDATE 20110803
Hero couple rescued dozens from #Utoya
http://news.yahoo.com/lesbian-couple-saved-40-kids-norway-050733662.html

UPDATE 20110727
‘Sluggish’ Norwegian police criticized and protected by insular culture
http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-culture-shields-sluggish-norway-police-critics-151445646.html

UPDATE 20110726

Fascinating article in NYTimes about unarmed Norwegian Police

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/world/europe/26police.html

And a quote that seems idyllic and possibly naive to Norwegian Americans -

“I would prefer to live in a society where police normally work unarmed,” said Johannes Knutsson, a professor of police research at the Norwegian Police University College.

Though graphic, the above aerial image from news helicopters reinforces the fact that the police, SWAT and counter-terrorism first responders were woefully unprepared and slow in their response. Their use of an overloaded boat in a country that daily flies thousands of oil workers via jet helicopters to offshore oil rigs will surely be a lesson learned in the forthcoming after action reports and inquiries – per the NYTimes article above -

” It took police SWAT units more than an hour to reach the camp, on Utoya Island, after reports of the shooting came in. Officers had to drive to the shore across from the site of the shooting attack, and use boats to get to the island. A police helicopter was unable to get off the ground; news crews that reached the island by air could only watch as the gunman continued the massacre. ”

Tragic loss of the one onsite first responder/police officer ( Trond Berntsen ), who was unarmed and was the step-brother of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2018459/Norway-shooting-Crown-Princesss-step-brother-Trond-Berntsen-killed-Anders-Behring-Breivik.html

Here she is with the Prince at the UNDP Arendal center for environmental analysis -

UPDATE 20110727
https://plus.google.com/110668479729372555286/posts

Tragic

Excellent resource for live updates via UK Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655175/Oslo-explosion-live-coverage.html

Context/History
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655451/History-of-Islamic-militant-attacks-in-Europe.html

Likely usual suspects
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-europe-groups-idUSTRE76L3O920110722

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_explosion

Mobile Counter-IED Interactive Trainer (MCIT) Behind the Scenes

http://ict.usc.edu/projects/mobile_counter_ied_interactive_trainer_mcit/

Excellent Post article giving historical perspective on the Iraqi EOD efforts

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/specials/leftofboom/index.html

US House of Representative Committee on Armed Services Report on the Joint IED Defeat Organization, Nov. 2008

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA490963&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

To better coordinate regional enterprise GIS data efforts with the advanced analysis research occuring at RAND and amongst our allied academic, private, and DHS S&T partners, this will be a valuable forum and please RSVP with Adrian Overton (see below) – joel@nordicgeospatial.com

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RAND Corp GIS Brown-bag Seminar Announcement

Enterprise GIS (e-GIS) for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Public Safety : Approaches for integrating geo-analytic decision support applications and tools into the enterprise

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Location: The RAND Corporation Headquarters at 1776 Main St., Santa Monica 90401 – rm 1226

Time: 11:00AM-1:30PM PST

Please RSVP to overton@rand.org – non-RAND guests will need to be on our visitors list to be admitted

Come learn about several recent innovative RAND geoweb 2.0 applications in the areas of Emergency Health Preparedness planning and Homeland Security, and discuss and learn about local initiatives and approaches to deploying GIS data and services to support geospatial decision making for public safety and homeland security.

Featured presenters and highlights:

Jeanne Ringel, Sr. Economist at RAND

Mapping Vulnerable Populations – A RAND Health project recently released a demonstration geoweb application to support local health departments in identifying where vulnerable populations may reside in their jurisdictions for strategic planning for public health emergency preparedness. The application uses demographic data from the 2000 census to create high-impact visualizations of where vulnerable populations are located within a jurisdiction. To assist HDs in using the geographic information to improve planning, the tool also contains information on exemplary practices that have been used in other jurisdictions to better address the needs of vulnerable populations in public health preparedness planning and response activities.

Paul Sorensen, Sr. Operations Researcher at RAND

POD Location planning tool – A RAND Health project recently completed work on a demonstration application to support local health departments in evaluating and identifying optimal sites for distribution of oral vaccines from the national stockpile for emergency bio-terrorist attacks or pandemic outbreaks of disease. The application assists decision makers in optimally locating multiple points of distribution or PODs.

Ryan Keefe, PRGS Fellow at RAND

Thomas J. Sullivan, Senior Information Scientist at RAND

RAND Actionable Hotspot Methodology – Presenters will demonstrate a RAND developed space-time “hotspot” decision support application to assist tactical planners in identifying and prioritizing “hotspot” locations for resource allocation/deployment. The application was originally based on the challenges of tactical commanders in Iraq interested in reducing the risk of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), but has applicability to homeland security and law enforcement as well.

Mark Greninger, Geospatial Information Officer, County of Los Angeles

The presentation will describe how LA County is deploying web 2.0 technologies in the form of blogs and GeoRSS feeds, to improve the accuracy and expand deployment of geospatial data in the county. Specifically, this presentation will show how the county is moving to a single entry point for the maintenance of county facilities and services.

Joyce Edson, Police Applications Division Manager for the City of Los Angeles Information Technology Agency

The presentation will discuss how the City of Los Angeles is developing a GIS data repository and how ITA is addressing the challenge of providing geospatial information and tools to City and Regional Public Safety users by using web GIS to collaborate with service and data providers; such as the USGS.Shakecast application and it’s integration with existing public safety applications.

Paul Hardwick, Regional GIS Project Manager for Homeland Security Regional Technology Center at the SDSU Research Foundation

The San Diego region has embarked on the planning phase for the San Diego Regional Emergency Geospatial Information Network (SDREGIN). SDREGIN will serve as a regional geospatial data source and connect local jurisdictions, public agencies, and utilities to the regional geospatial database through a network that serves the needs of public safety personnel both on a day-to-day basis and during catastrophic emergency events.