There are numerous emergency applications in use today, including complex Computer Aided Dispatch systems (CAD), web-based emergency management tools, local and statewide GIS systems, hospital capacity reporting systems, and other applications. Some are owned by single agencies; some are network elements owned by a collection of agencies. Each of these systems has their own unique functionality.

THE NEED

An interoperability survey conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors identified the average age of technology in 192 cities as 11 years old. While this average covered a variety of technologies, application systems half that old almost assuredly do not have the capability to exchange XML data messages. In fact, they most likely are not Web-based. Nor do they have any geospatial capabilities. However, they probably do perform the function for which they were purchased.

To date, the emergency responder community have had limited success in the area of coordinated response across professions due to inadequate, insecure, and incompatible information technologies. Current systems often don't work, don't scale or break down. As emergencies and response efforts become more complex, agency application systems, for example, need to:

• Share information across professional domains and jurisdictions
• View the scene of an incident and associated resources in spatial terms providing graphic representation of personnel, equipment relative to buildings, landmarks and other reference points
• Support identity-based, role-based, and need-to-know based information sharing permissioning
• Track and verify assets
• Be scalable

While COMCARE believes that agencies should be encouraged to purchase the tools that are best suited to their needs. It is also critical that systems conform to a set of requirements that will enable agencies to operate according to the guidelines established by the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the Target Capabilities List (TCL), and other associated documents.

COMCARE'S APPROACH

Through outreach and data interoperability initiatives, COMCARE and its members help to educate and shape the future of systems being procured and used by emergency response agencies. By bringing together both practitioners and technology vendors, system requirements can be mutually defined and agreed upon.

While many system requirements are negotiable, it is critical that agency applications have the ability to send and receive XML messages to and from other applications in standardized formats. It should not matter to a 9-1-1 CAD system that it is receiving data from an emergency management tool about a flood, a telematics message from OnStar, a bio-terrorism alert from CDC, or data about a 9-1-1 call from a wireless company. The same data interface should be used.

COMCARE also works with practitioner and vendor communities to identify new types of application needs. These efforts resulted in the identification of another set of applications and services that compete to deliver information between these agency-based applications. These systems can range from traditional ones that provide telephone, radio, or data connections between disparate parties to more sophisticated shared systems which enrich incident messages with associated data from multiple sources (e.g. "chlorine spill? Here are the treatment instructions."  " Wind blowing northwest at 25 mph?  Here is the plume model.").

FROM VISION TO REALITY

Since the majority of the systems in use today do not have a data messaging capability, COMCARE commissioned the development of a messaging system prototype that has become an extension of the Emergency Provider Access Directory. This system called EPAD Connect can be used in conjunction with EPAD to send and receive standardized data messages. COMCARE plans to develop a production version as EPAD is developed. This messaging system will be available for use free to agencies registered in EPAD. It is also designed so that technology vendors can incorporate the system into their existing product offerings. This approach will allow them to jumpstart their own development and offer geographically targeted messaging to their customer base faster.

Another initiative underway is the Integrated Patient Tracking Initiative. This initiative brings together practitioners to identify both the functional and technical requirements needed in a patient tracking system. These requirements can then be used by agencies to procure the system.

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