The first casualty of a crisis is often information. Organizations are bombarded with fragmented information, from PDF reports to WhatsApp messages to spreadsheets. Lack of data isn’t the issue in this environment. The problem is the inability to process what’s available quickly enough to act.
The time between a needs assessment and the delivery of aid determines the success of a humanitarian mission. This is where the distinction between stand-alone mapping software and an integrated system matters. Organizations need to have a geospatial infrastructure that provides them with a direct connection between frontline assessments and decision-makers.
The Scavenger Hunt Problem
In-country deployments and incident responses often begin with a scavenger hunt for essential, baseline information. Information management (IM) officers are tasked with sourcing administrative boundaries, population information, infrastructure maps, and other essential data from authorities. Hours vanish while everyone waits for information and context. What if that didn’t have to happen?
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World and ArcGIS Online transform this initial acquisition phase. Data like real-time hurricane tracks, drought intensity and agricultural stress indicators, recent earthquakes, satellite imagery, updated local demographic and infrastructure layers, and more is already there. Already verified. Already formatted. Analysts can walk into the first coordination briefing with a common operational picture, and field teams can deploy with actionable intelligence.
In fact, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) operationalized this exact “walk in ready” model by moving to an enterprise agreement that gave headquarters and field offices consistent access to the same ArcGIS technology, online resources, and standardized workflows. In doing so, they reduced one of the biggest friction points in emergency response: different teams arriving with different maps, different assumptions, and different “versions of the truth.” Instead, OCHA helped ensure that when a crisis hits, staff and partners can align quickly around a shared picture of needs and constraints, spending less time reconciling data and more time coordinating action.
How Do You Close a Two-Day Gap?
Here’s a common pattern in humanitarian response: An assessment happens on Monday morning, and data gets collected on paper or in an app. Someone needs to manually enter it, clean it, merge it with other datasets, and create a visualization. By the time Wednesday afternoon rolls around, you finally have a map that reflects Monday’s situation, while conditions on the ground have already shifted.
To be clear, the sector has made real progress over the last decade. Organizations like MapAction, OCHA, iMMAP Inc., and others have proven that this lag can be dramatically reduced through more integrated workflows and better data sharing. The challenge now is that progress is uneven, and too many responses still get stuck in the slower cycle when speed and coordination matter most.
An integrated system using ArcGIS Survey123 and ArcGIS Field Maps can remove this delay. Field teams work in offline-first environments, where cellular service is more myth than reality, so these applications cache data on their devices and sync automatically when connectivity appears. This capability supports rapid verification.
A damage assessment submitted from a water point in a remote village can show up on the operations dashboard immediately. This real-time visibility means that coordinators can redirect aid based on what’s happening on the ground, not what was happening when someone finally got around to updating a spreadsheet. Adaptive management becomes a way of life.
When There’s No Time to Build from Scratch
Nobody wants to build a tool, workflow, or geodatabase during an emergency. With limited time, minimal resources, and a mission to accomplish, that’s a recipe for disaster on top of an actual disaster. That’s where ArcGIS Solutions steps in.
ArcGIS Solutions is a repository of prebuilt templates that actual emergency managers have designed based on what works in the field, including:
- Emergency Management Operations: One dashboard for everything, from task assignment to personnel tracking and asset locations
- Flood Impact Analysis: Model water flows, see what infrastructure is at risk, and identify evacuation routes before things are actually underwater
- Damage Assessment: Standardized workflows from field collection to headquarters visualization
- HLZ Suitability: When roads are impassable and time matters, you need to know exactly where aircraft can land
- Hazard Mitigation Planning: Help communities understand their risks and invest in resilience before the next event
For specialized needs, the ArcGIS Marketplace extends this even further. Need historical weather patterns for logistics planning? Real-time incident feeds for security? Community risk assessments to strengthen local partnerships? The ArcGIS Marketplace connects agencies with third-party tools and critical data.
Operations Need Data, Funding Needs Stories
Data may drive operations, but funding runs on stories. ArcGIS StoryMaps bridges this gap. Turn complex data into compelling stories with maps and imagery woven with firsthand accounts from people on the ground. Donors see the last mile of delivery and the public can connect their support with tangible outcomes. This level of transparency is essential for communication and key to supporting accountability to affected populations. Make sure the human context doesn’t get lost in the technical response.
Extra Help—When You Need It
Disasters don’t care about the budget or planning cycle, and emergencies can quickly overwhelm an organization’s available licenses, technical capacity, and data resources. The Esri Disaster Response Program (DRP) exists for exactly this scenario. Any organization can access it, regardless of their customer status, to help scale their response and maintain continuity.
Some common functions of the DRP include:
- Temporary licenses for a sudden influx of staff or volunteers
- Specialists to implement solutions and get them live within hours
- Incident-specific data, real-time feeds, and authoritative sources
- Around-the-clock premium technical support to resolve issues immediately
Making Enterprise Tools Accessible and Sustainable
Building this infrastructure doesn’t require a commercial-level budget. The Esri Nonprofit Program was designed to remove cost as a barrier, offering qualified organizations access to the same enterprise technology used by governments and major NGOs, but at a fraction of the price. In parallel, the Geospatial Enablement Program provides affordable access for low- and low-middle-income government entities, such as national disaster management authorities, that are increasingly becoming key actors and leaders in the humanitarian space.
By democratizing access to advanced geospatial capabilities, regional partners and community-based organizations can access professional analytical tools to drive more effective, locally led interventions. To truly advance the idea of localization in humanitarian response, local actors need to have access to the same technology as international agencies.
What Actually Makes a Response Effective? Integrated Systems
An effective response is not about having data. Everyone has data. Success happens when teams can act on information quickly enough for it to matter. A stand-alone map can show what happened, but an integrated geospatial system helps organizations respond to what’s currently happening and prepare for what’s coming.
When field teams and decision-makers are working from the same real-time picture, speed increases, confidence improves, and decisions become more equitable. The goal is to make sure that this infrastructure is in place and ready before a crisis strikes. Because when it does, responders need to be focused on the mission.
