At Intterra, we believe improvement makes perfect. Intterra consistently strives for improvement in all areas, and is hard at work refining its technology in order to make your Intterra experience as close to perfect as possible. Here's what we've been up to lately.
At Intterra, we absolutely love hearing about the incredible feats you have accomplished while using our tools. It really is the driving force behind our constant desire to evolve and create new, innovative ideas! When we see how each of our clients is tailoring their system to better suit their unique needs and problems, we truly feel inspired. And you should too!
There has been a lot of hustle and bustle going on over here at the Intterra offices and after months of developing, testing, improving and more testing, we can finally say that our labors have come to fruition. Without further ado, we are incredibly proud to introduce to you the SA Field Tool App.
We live in a big world and with that comes the ongoing challenge of creating accurate addresses. These days, it's nearly impossible to find someone who hasn't been disappointed by the confusion of the current addressing system. what3words is a program drastically changing the way specific locations are found around the world.
Battle Rhythm: Finding a good balance between technology and operations
When a fast moving brush fire struck in Ventura County California this week, the department went to work. But the most interesting part is that Ventura's fire activity over the weekend was 'just another day' for them and for Intterra - but something special for the community.
VCFD fought the fire with all their tools - including the Ventura Situational Awareness Tool (VSAT). But it was nothing new, nothing novel - just good old fashioned hard work that was a combination of good tactics fighting a fire driven by increasing afternoon winds and spotting. VCFD has gotten so good at using VSAT to let crews contribute from wherever they are to Situational Awareness, that using the system is just part of their DNA.
Ventura has a long history of innovation with technology and GIS - creating the original "Ventura Tools" that morphed over time into the national standard Fire Incident Mapping Tools (FIMT). And they continue to innovate - but not just with technology - rather with the willingness to make technology in the firefight a cultural norm in the department. Just another tool in the toolbox to be used when it makes the most sense.
We think that you'll agree that from Operations to Public Information and regional integration - VCFD has raised the bar by demonstrating that good information is fundamental - but not the star of the show. After all, the map didn't put the fire out - firefighters did the work, but every tool has its place. VCFD has figured out the best balance between operational adoption and technology that quietly and efficiently serves its purpose.
Thank you to VCFD, for showing us a common sense approach and operational balance!
Bonus material: VCFD Case Study
Pre-fire Planning is Easy Now
You've been talking about what a pain fire pre-planning is for forever. Time's up. Thanks to mobile and all that "cloud computing stuff", it's a snap.
In fact, I think it's so easy that if you are capable of checking the weather on your smart phone, you can master pre-planning.
Here's all you need to know:
- Step 1: Pull your phone out of your pocket.
- Step 2: Walk around the building and map it with your crew.
- Step 3: Go have lunch.
IMPROVING IS CONTINUOUS:
Back in 'The Old Corps' (which is essentially the Marine Corps version of 'once a upon time') we used to joke that 'Chow is Continuous'. Which meant that any time you had a chance to grab something to eat from your MRE - do it! You never knew when you would have a chance again based on the need to maintain a high operations tempo.
I remembered that idea as Intterra conducted our post Super Bowl 50 after action review led by Emily Carpenter. Emily was our 'point person' deployed to the Santa Clara Multi-Agency Coordination Group. She not only served as our lead person onsite, she was also a critical part of the Santa Clara County Fire geospatial team.
When she returned, we held a company-wide review of the event so that Emily could lead the entire team through what she and her team did. Sometimes a live, rapid review like this gets lost in the return-to-work drive or even the high-fiving/back-slapping that often occurs after a successful deployment. However, experience tells us that maintaining the high tempo of continuous improvements means learning lessons fast
and acting on them.
Fire Fighters have as much information at their finger tips as Peyton Manning!
In a parking lot in the middle of Santa Clara, a group of professional look out over tablets and screens, review the effectiveness of their game plan, and plan the next move. and plan movements. No, this isn't Peyton Manning preparing for the Bronco's next possession. They are Fire Fighters and 1st Responders getting ready for a busy weekend around
Santa Clara County during Super Bowl 50.
Leveraging a partnership developed while supporting wildfires across the nation,
DigitalGlobe and
Intterra have teamed up to deliver the latest satellite imagery directly to public safety and event managers so that they can plan and move resources in support of the many events occurring around Super Bowl 50.
Life in the Super Bowl Command Post
It's been a fun week at work! All the hard work of the past few months building up a Special Events app for Super Bowl 50 first responders has paid off. This week, we're helping them manage all the events and incidents that come with an event like SB50.
Using whatever device they have (phone, tablet, laptop), a responder can not only see where all the 'routine' incidents and responders are in real time, they can see managed response decisions, see data about incidents, access geoanalytics to help allocate resources, and communicate via maps about the special events that are ongoing this week.
It's official:
This year's Super Bowl will be heavily influenced by Colorado - the Broncos featuring legendary QB Peyton Manning and SITUATIONANALYST by Intterra. Will the Bronco's win? Well, that's a completely different blog post.... Will the regional First Responders have hi-def situational awareness with all thier systems tied together - that we do know about.
Intterra and Santa Clara County Fire created the regional situational awareness platform for SB50. It ties together all departments, event and venue planning, and tracking systems to create a complete picture of all of the events related to SB50 + every 911 call and unit in the region.
Here are some highlights:
- Situational Awareness for all special events, parties, practice fields and venues.
- Integrated tracking of all Public Safety cooperators and regional 911 incidents (live).
- A Special Events planning framework that integrates information for ALL phases of the events.
