Harmonizing Safety: Tracking First Responders at the Pilgrimage Music Festival

Effective tracking of emergency responders is crucial for ensuring personnel safety and efficient resource deployment during large-scale events. This was equally important at the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, an annual arts festival held in Franklin, Tennessee, United States. The only thing more synchronized than the bands performing on stage was the coordination of the public safety personnel working behind the scenes. Staff from the City of Franklin Fire and Police Departments didn’t just keep the beat; they kept everyone safe with the help of geographic information system (GIS) technology.

Public safety personnel at the festival gained the ability to deliver near real-time visibility into the locations and statuses of their teams and resources, by utilizing tools such as ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Field Maps, and ArcGIS QuickCapture. This capability not only enhanced situational awareness but also significantly improved staff ability to coordinate responses swiftly and effectively.

Accurate, near real-time tracking of firefighters, police officers, medics, and other emergency personnel is essential for their safety. It enables rapid assistance when needed and allows for the deployment of the closest appropriate resource to where it is most critical. The incident management team tracked the locations of public safety personnel by integrating Motorola’s Intelligent Middleware (IMW) into Esri’s ArcGIS technologies to track the positions of radios used by police, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. These radios sent their locations every 30 seconds, allowing the incident management team to see where everyone was in near real time. This level of tracking was essential for ensuring quick response times and efficient coordination during the festival.

To visualize this data, the team used Esri’s ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro. The City of Franklin had ArcGIS Enterprise installed on its servers, and staff used ArcGIS Pro to publish the radio locations as feature services. A Python script would run to update the locations of the radios on their maps. If the script took too long, it would restart to ensure they always had the most current data. This setup allowed them to maintain an accurate and up-to-date view of personnel locations, which was crucial for effective incident management.

The effectiveness of their personnel tracking efforts was one of the standout successes of their deployment. By using Motorola’s IMW and Esri’s ArcGIS technology, the incident management team could maintain a near real-time view of the locations of all public safety personnel. This allowed them to quickly identify and respond to any incidents, ensuring that help was always close at hand. The ability to see everyone’s location in near real time also helped them coordinate their efforts more effectively, which reduced response times and improved overall efficiency.

In addition to tracking personnel, the incident management team also needed to manage and deploy resources efficiently. They accomplished this goal, for example, by having staff in the main medical tent use ArcGIS QuickCapture to keep track of available cots and ambulances. This tool made it easy to quickly record and update the status of medical resources, ensuring that they could respond promptly to any medical emergencies. Using ArcGIS QuickCapture, medical staff could maintain a nearly real-time inventory of medical resources. This inventory was then displayed on the dashboards for easy access by the incident management team at the command center.

Maintaining situational awareness was another key aspect of the incident management team’s support. Staff on carts at the festival used ArcGIS Field Maps on their devices to navigate and stay aware of their surroundings. The tool enabled team members to view the locations of their colleagues and other vital assets in near real time. This capability was critical for preserving situational awareness and coordinating their actions.

Safety personnel also conducted a drone overflight of the festival site to capture detailed images of the area. These images were processed and integrated into ArcGIS to create an updated map of the festival grounds. This updated imagery provided a clear and current view of the site, which was very helpful for planning and operations.

After the event, participating agencies conducted a thorough analysis to identify areas for improvement. This included optimizing their network communications, improving the Python scripts and SQL Server procedures they used, and exploring new tools like ArcGIS Velocity for faster data integration. They also looked at ways to improve the workflow for accessing CAD calls and radio data, ensuring that their systems would be even more efficient for future events.

During the festival, while the musicians were captivating the audience with their high notes, the incident management team reached new heights. Overall, the integration of Esri’s technology greatly enhanced their ability to manage the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival effectively.

By leveraging ArcGIS tools, they were able to provide near real-time tracking of public safety personnel, manage resources efficiently, and maintain a high level of situational awareness. These efforts ensured the safety and efficiency of operations, and continuous improvements will help public safety agencies be even better prepared for future events.

Andrew Southern, the City of Franklin’s information systems manager and member of the incident management team, reflected on the impact of GIS on their special event and day-to-day operations.

“Leveraging Esri technologies for the purpose of tracking personnel location and dispatching has allowed our organization to dramatically improve public safety response time during the special event,” said Southern. “Enabling stakeholders with the ability to see in real time where their assets are and what their status is, we have been able to more closely mimic traditional emergency dispatch in a field setting, allowing for increased efficiency in terms of response time and communication.”