2016 Washington GIS

In order to transform the world we need to first create standards for better practice at lower levels. Currently there is no state in the United States that has a “state standard” as pertaining to standardized GIS data concerning critical infrastructure. Part of the problem is each agency responsible for creating, maintaining, or collecting this information doesn’t speak with each other on their needs; thus creating separate databases with different data and different schema. This became apparent when working on the vignettes for the Cascadia Subduction Zone exercise in June (Cascadia Rising) when comparing the Hazardous Response Force’s (HRF) data to the National Guard Bureau’s (NGB). While both used data from the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program (HSIP) their actual data differed. Both were using the same version of HSIP Gold and yet there were hospitals listed on one that were not on the other. There were more differences but the question is why and how do we fix this? This data was created and disseminated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and created on a national scale. With an area that large there will likely be some errors in data, but that is unacceptable when it is preventable. The problem is further compounded when you add in state and local government entities data. Each has their own criteria and schema's or perhaps they don’t have any because they are relying on someone else to have that data. Being in the Washington Army National Guard I have proposed there be a set standard for all of this information so that when an event happens every organization has the same data with a set schema. This will save time, alleviate concerns on the accuracy of the data, ensure every organization has the same data, and ultimately save more lives.