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Data Management for Wide-area Responses: Technology Evaluation and Operational Expert Feedback
Citation:
Boe, T., E. Silvestri, J. Falik, M. Blaser, J. Mitchell, B. Cooper, L. Mickelsen, C. Graham, K. McConkey, AND M. Rodgers. Data Management for Wide-area Responses: Technology Evaluation and Operational Expert Feedback. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-22/065, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Following a wide-area CBRN incident, from initial characterization sampling to evaluate the contamination event through clearance sampling and waste disposal processes, a substantial amount of data will need to be collected, checked for quality, and maintained to support decision-making. Depending on the size and scope of the hazardous contamination, data management could result in a significant technological undertaking that could continue for many years. Tools and technologies that might be used during characterization and clearance sampling include computers or tablets, software applications, mobile devices, databases, data models, (GIS) applications, laboratory reporting tools, and auxiliary tools such as GPS. Understanding the capabilities of these tools and technologies, how they connect and work together, and evaluating the usability of various technologies and is critical to advancing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) and EPA’s data management capabilities. Data management frameworks are plans that are developed to help address practically every part of the data management process including the individual tools, technologies, and processes that are used to collect, store, retrieve, and visualize data. Integrating a suite of technologies to support a comprehensive data management framework is necessary to effectively organize, document, quality assure, and communicate data during a wide-area CBRN incident.
Description:
Phase 1 of this project identified tools and technologies that were selected to be further evaluated and exercised during the planned demonstration day, are currently available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or government off-the-shelf (GOTS) and appear to have features that meet the largest number of needs. Tools recommended for further evaluation include Esri’s Survey 123/Collector/Field Maps Suite, Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), EPA’s Scribe, and RadResponder. While RadResponder was specifically identified during Phase 1, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sponsors a suite of “responder apps” collectively referred to as CBRNResponder that includes access to both RadResponder and ChemResponder (and soon BioResponder). Phase 2 of this project focused on exercising and evaluating the candidate tools recommended in Phase 1. Specifically, this study evaluated the current state of technologies through a demonstration event and documented observations and recommendations to enhance the USCG and EPA’s ability to respond to and recover from a CBRN incident. Through this project, EPA gained invaluable experience in understanding how to apply advances in technologies and software to improve field data acquisition tasks. Important technological issues were identified to inform future planning and training efforts. Based on the expressed needs of EPA and DHS/USCG and the experiences of participants in the AnCOR DATA Demo, the project team recommends using Esri’s Suite of tools and ArcGIS Field Maps to support field data acquisition efforts for the AnCOR program. Consistent with the findings from a related effort to assess data visualization and analysis tools, the Esri suite has the most features that meet the largest number of needs, is familiar to and accepted by target stakeholders, and is generally viewed as easy to customize and tailor to meet the specific needs of the operation. CBRNResponder, and a forthcoming BioResponder, offer many promising features. At present, however, several key requirements for EPA’s AnCOR program cannot currently be met – namely alignment with required data fields/types that will be collected and integration with real-time geospatial assets. The project team recommends that EPA continue engagement attempts with FEMA to convey EPA’s needs regarding biological sampling (and other agents), and closely monitor FEMA’s progress and tool enhancements to determine whether the tool could better meet EPA’s needs in the future. In support of an additional project goal to document a repeatable, transparent, and stable workflow to support AnCOR Field Study data management needs, the project team also developed a Data Management Task/Workflow that identifies when and how various data management tools can be used across the response. Specific tasks that have a related data management component, the various tools that are available to support activities, and the established workflow among the tasks and tools were documented. Through this effort candidate tools were exercised and evaluated to assess the current state of technologies to enhance the USCG and EPA’s ability to respond to and recover from a CBRN incident. The technologies and software recommended will be exercised through a complete data management workflow during the AnCOR field study that will be held in May 2022. The operational considerations illuminated through this study provided invaluable information to ensure increased preparedness and, ultimately, more efficient, and successful field data acquisition and management activities.