GIS Resources | Esri Disaster Response Program

General map showing areas marked in different colors and black dots in other locations

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Emergency Management Operations solutions

Manage daily and incident operations

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Popular public information map depicting wildfire activity.

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Best Practices for High Demand/Viral Apps

ArcGIS Blog

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Putting the "Live" in Living Atlas of the World

ArcGIS Blog

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How-to and technical resources

Use this collection of Esri solutions and applications, blog articles, how-to guides, and map data layers to help plan and manage your disaster response.

Incident Briefing application

Incident Status Dashboard

Public Information Map application

Best practices for using tile layers as operational layers

Strategies to effectively display large amounts of data in web apps

A technical approach to large feature datasets

Situational Awareness Viewer application

Damage Assessment solution

Getting started with hosted feature layer views

How to collect hurricane damage assessments

ArcGIS Solutions for Emergency Management

Frequently asked questions

How can I maintain situational awareness for my jurisdiction during an incident?

Use the Incident Status Dashboard template to monitor key indicators and current conditions in real time. With this level of situational awareness, you can share insights quickly with senior leadership so they can make more timely and effective decisions as potential issues emerge.

How can I brief command staff and elected officials during an incident?

The Incident Briefing Solution template helps you share updates with executive decision makers so they can see what’s important and decide which actions to take. Use these apps for daily briefings or for status updates during disasters to keep decision makers proactively informed no matter the situation.

Where can I get live feeds of data to include in Situational Awareness applications?

The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides many valuable live feeds like weather and traffic that you can add directly to your maps and apps. These are hosted by Esri, other organizations, and our user community. Content relevant to disaster response and situational awareness is located in the Earth Observations section of the Environment category of the Living Atlas.

How can I share information with the public?

Use the Public Information solution template to share incident information and alerts with the public. Communicate about ongoing events using both authoritative emergency event data as well as ready-to-use data from Esri. Users can see the status of any active incidents, identify areas affected by official advisories, and read summaries for each incident or alert. When you use maps to keep the public informed, people can better understand how an emergency will impact them and take the appropriate precautions, helping reduce loss of life and property.

My map contains layers that require a subscription. How can I share it with the public?

To share a map that contains subscriber content with the public, create a map-based app and configure it to allow access to the content through your organizational subscription.

What happens if my Public Information app goes viral?

Since ArcGIS Online leverages the cloud, it is designed to scale to accommodate a large load. Follow best practices like using hosted feature layer views and using tile layers for complex data to ensure you can get critical information out to your constituents to help them stay safe.

Volunteer opportunities

GIS Corps

GISCorps coordinates short-term, volunteer-based GIS services to underprivileged communities

MapAction

MapAction gathers crucial data at disaster scenes, conveying it visually in the form of maps

American Red Cross

The Red Cross provides relief and support to those in crisis and helps people to be prepared for emergency response

Standby Task Force

Standby Task Force serves as a humanitarian link between the digial world and diaster response, focusing on research, mapping and digital skills

Maps for the media

Request embedded maps or interview topic experts for your disaster-related editorial features and news stories.

Send a media request

DRP ArcGIS Online Org

Join the DRP ArcGIS Online collaboration groups to quickly access and download web maps and data into your organization.

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Get help now

If you need GIS software or support for your current disaster response, please request assistance by completing the form. All requests should be fully justified and are subject to approval.

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Law enforcement and national security

Fire, rescue, and emergency medical services

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