By Barbara Shields, Esri
Esri honored the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) with its 3D Excellence Award. The Forest Service uses 3D GIS to communicate wildfire information to a very large group of wildfire fighting teams. James Hubbard, deputy chief of the Forest Service, accepted the award during the Esri 3D Imaging and Mapping Forum, June 26, 2016.
“We are paying a lot of attention to reducing fire fighters’ unnecessary exposure to risk,” Hubbard said. “We don’t want to put firefighters into situations where they can’t succeed or have a low probability of succeeding. 3D mapping gives us a better idea of where they should go or not go. It also helps them be more effective firefighters.”
The Forest Service received the award because Esri considers it as a major contributor to the advancement of 3D GIS technology. Its user requirements have helped Esri’s 3D development team set its priorities. The Forest Service uses 3D GIS to substantially communicate wildfire information to a very large group of its users. In one week, it trained 2,000 people to use a 3D wildfire management web application.
Staff easily accesses essential data provided by the National Interagency Fire Center, layers it onto a 3D base map, and has a multidimensional perspective of a wildfire’s progress.
insider
