Use Incident Awareness and Assessment

The Incident Awareness and Assessment solution delivers provides a set of capabilities that helps responding National Guard units assess impacted areas, maintain situational awareness, and enhance decision-making.

In this topic, you will learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the following workflows.

Note:

Use your organization's data or configured apps to follow these workflows.

Manage incident information

When a disaster overwhelms local and state resources, a governor can request assistance from the National Guard. Responding National Guard units need to quickly map and understand the incident and its impact to make response decisions. Once the impact is understood, that knowledge can be used to plan future missions and assess disengagement criteria.

Map incident information

Mapping the origin of an incident is the first step when starting your response efforts and establishing the incident area. The initial incident location may change over time and understanding whether the number of incidents is increasing or decreasing is an important part of understanding the impact of the incident.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of an intelligence staff member who needs to map incident information.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the IAA Manager app.
2. Click the Incident Information tab at the top of the app.
3. Click Incident Point and the type of incident in the editor on the right, then choose the incident location on the map.
4. Complete the feature details and click Create.
5. To establish the incident area, choose the Incident Area feature to draw the initial extent of the incident area.
6. Complete the feature details and click Create.

   Note:

   When incidents should be represented as a line, add the incident as a line in addition to creating an incident point. Having each incident represented by a point allows incident information to be accounted for throughout the system and ensures the Incident Awareness and Assessment Command Dashboard functions correctly.

   Note:

   You can add your own organizational data to the application by using the Add Data function in the lower left of the application.

Map incident impacts

Identifying incident impacts on transportation and civilian infrastructure is crucial during response efforts.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of an intelligence staff member who needs to map incident impacts.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the IAA Manager app.
2. Click the Incident Impacts tab at the top of the app.
3. In the Impacts Editor, click a civilian infrastructure feature or road feature and choose the location on the map.

   Note:

   You may have to increase the zoom level of the map to see the newly added features.

4. Complete the feature details and click Create.

Note:

To assist in locating infrastructure, the solution includes several infrastructure layers from ArcGIS Living Atlas that are configured to work with the Impacts Finder widget. You can use this widget by selecting a location on the map by using a point, line, or polygon and specifying the buffer distance. The results, along with their attributes, will be displayed accordingly.

Note:

The IAA Manager app includes the Add Data widget to temporarily add data sources to the app. You can add data via ArcGIS content, URL, or local storage. You can manage and filter added data and view data in maps and tables. However, you cannot save data added this way.

Map military features

Identifying military features within the incident area is crucial during response efforts. Understanding the location of military facilities can aid in mission planning and mission support. Additionally, the establishment of Named Areas of Interest for further analysis is accomplished in this tab.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of an intelligence staff member who needs to map military features.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the IAA Manager app.
2. Click the Mlitary Features tab at the top of the app.
3. Click Military Facilities in the editor on the right, then choose the facility location on the map.

   Note:

   You may have to increase the zoom level of the map to see the newly added features.

4. Complete the feature details and click Create.
5. To establish a Named Area of Interest, click the Named Areas of Interest feature in the editor and draw the area on the map.
6. Complete the feature details and click Create.

Note:

The IAA Manager app includes the Add Data widget to temporarily add data sources to the app. You can add data via ArcGIS content, URL, or local storage. You can manage and filter added data and view data in maps and tables. However, you cannot save data added this way.

Update Lifeline Assessments

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has established a list of essential Community Lifelines that ensure the uninterrupted operation of critical government and business functions vital to human health and safety. Responding National Guard units use their own analysis of these to assess response needs and disengagement criteria.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of an intelligence staff member who needs to update lifeline assessments.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the IAA Manager app.
2. Click the Lifeline Assessment tab at the top of the app.
3. Complete the Lifelines Reporter survey with as much information as possible. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk.
4. Click Update.

   Note:

   The previously submitted lifeline update will be visible within the Lifelines Reporter editor form and can be modified or updated if required.

Perform incident analysis

Responding National guard units have their own intelligence staff and capabilities; however, they may request assistance from Unclassified Processing, Assessment, and Dissemination (UPAD) staff for more in-depth analysis and information collections.

Assess collection requests

UPAD staff receive these requests for assistance, assess incident Named Areas of Interest (NAI) features, and deliver finished collections to the responding National Guard unit.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a UPAD staff member who needs to review and assess collection requests.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the UPAD Manager app.
2. Click the Analyst Workspace tab at the top of the app.
3. View information about each established NAI by interacting with the map or the table at the bottom of the application.
4. Use the Add Data widget to temporarily add data sources to the app. You can add data via ArcGIS content, URL, or local storage. You can manage and filter added data and view the data in maps and tables.
5. Use the Coordinate Conversion widget to convert coordinates from one coordinate system to another.

Deliver collections

After UPAD staff have created an information collection product, it needs to be delivered to the National Guard unit.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a UPAD staff member who needs to deliver collections back to the requesting state.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the UPAD Manager app.
2. Click the Collection Delivery tab at the top of the app.
3. Select the relevant NAI in the map or table.
4. In the Feature Information pane on the left, review the selected NAI attributes.
5. To add a collection record to the NAI, scroll to the bottom of the pane and click Edit.
6. Click the Add Record button.
7. Assign a Collection ID based on unit standards.
8. Fill in all fields in the form. Fields marked with a red asterisk are mandatory.
9. At the bottom of the pane in the Attachments section, click the Add button.
10. Select and the appropriate finished product and click Add to add it.
11. Click the Create button.
12. Click the Update button.

Brief command leadership

Information should convey the extent of the incident, the status of incident impacts, and the status of assessments. Using the Incident Awareness and Assessment Command Dashboard to brief command leadership ensures clear communication at all command levels and enhances decision-making.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of command leadership who monitor response activities and measure progress on incident objectives.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Incident Awareness and Assessment Command Dashboard.
2. From the item page, click Open Dashboard.
3. On the Overview tab, review the high-level metrics.
4. In the table at the bottom of the dashboard, click the tab corresponding to the high-level metric that you need more information on to see a more detailed view. Clicking a specific piece of information will cause the map to zoom to that area.

   Dashboard indicators are linked. If you click an incident or other metric in the table or zoom to a location on the map, related details are filtered and updated in other elements of the dashboard.

5. At the bottom of the dashboard, click the Lifeline Conditions tab to review the current lifeline conditions and status.
6. At the bottom of the dashboard, click the Past Conditions tab to review the past lifeline conditions and status.
7. At the bottom of the dashboard, click the Collection Viewer tab to view completed assessment products related to the incident.

Deactivate incident

The Incident Awareness and Assessment solution uses the Active Incident field to determine visibility of features on the maps throughout the solution. When an incident is complete, set the Active Incident status for incidents, road conditions, and NAIs to a No value to remove it from the maps.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of command staff who needs to document that the emergency is over, deactivate the incident, and reset the solution.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the IAA Manager.
2. Click the Incident Information tab.
3. On the left list, select an incident point.
4. In the Edit pane on the right, select and highlight the point.
5. Set the Active Incident status to No.
6. Click Update.
7. Repeat the above process for incident lines and areas, road conditions, and NAIs using the IAA Manager app.