About the Incident Tracking System (ITS)

Sharing up-to-the-minute information about multiple incidents and activities is an essential function of emergency management and public-safety response. The Incident Tracking System (ITS) is a demonstration of one way the Internet’s “World Wide Web” can be used to create a shared “knowledge base” among a number of officials and agencies at various locations.

The ITS can be explained with a simple analogy: Imagine a map, with yellow stick-on notes attached at the site of each incident. The latest information on each incident is written on that incident’s sticker. It’s a simple and effective method, but it has some major drawbacks:

Only people who are standing in front of the map can see the information.
Only people who are standing in front of the map can add to or update the information.
Only a limited amount of information can go on a stick-on note, and it’s limited to words.
There is no “history” preserved as the map is updated.

The ITS creates an electronic equivalent of that map, which can be viewed by any computer using standard network protocols and inexpensive (indeed, in many cases, free) software. Thus, the map and the latest information on it are instantly available at multiple locations, both within an emergency operating center and at remote (even mobile) sites.

What’s more, any of those viewing locations can add information to the map, provided that they know the correct password. In addition to a password for adding new incidents to the map, each incident can have its own password for updates, so authority to update the map can be delegated selectively.

Each symbol on the map is a “gateway” to information, which can be as simple as a running narrative on the incident (with the latest information at the top and all the history preserved) or as complex as any computerized database or other service. Maps can be “nested” with a symbol on one map leading to a more detailed image.

“Maps” in the ITS can, in fact, be any sort of image... scanned or GIS-generated maps, satellite or aerial photos, or simple floorplans or other drawings. Maps don’t have to be horizontal, either... they can be elevation drawings, as of a high-rise building.

The ITS complements existing database-management tools with a different capability... using the “information superhighway” to communicate critical information among emergency responders.