Illinois Emergency Management Agency  GIS Strategic Plan

About this Project

As part of a larger project team, Urban GIS helped to determine how the Illinois Emergency Management Agency can best take advantage of GIS technology. This analysis consisted of three parts: Needs Assess­ment, Technology and Best Practices, and Strategic Plan Development.

While Urban GIS participated in all activity areas, the focus of the analysis was technology and best practices. Here, the team identified both existing use of GIS tech­nologies and critical non-GIS systems, such as NIMS, that could benefit from GIS integration. The review con­sidered existing environments, databases, skill-sets, and constraints when identifying strategic technologies and applications. Next they identified effective procedures and practices that might be adopted or adjusted to fit IEMA’s GIS needs. They reviewed a broad collection of city, regional, state, and federal agencies’ GIS studies and systems. These analyses were used to inform the team’s recommendations.

While the final Strategic plan contained an overall model of an established GIS program within IEMA—describ­ing the future state of infrastructure, architecture, data, applications, and interfaces—it also provided strategies that could be acted on immediately. Tactical initiatives were identified to transform the agency from its cur­rent state to this future vision. These initiatives were designed to incrementally build momentum and place tangible benefits in the hands of users while approach­ing the ultimate goals. This plan proposed a sequence of phases that build GIS capabilities while addressing core enterprise needs. Through this approach, IEMA can improve its GIS capabilities without delay.