GIS BB - Scoping Document - Working Draft

Version

1.0

Introduction

This document aims to describe the scope of the GIS building block by describing the use case(s) considered for the building block and detailing the user journeys of all use case actors through the logical process blueprint.

It also identifies the required interactions with other building blocks within GovStack.

Terminology Reference

Term

Description

Term

Description

APL

Automatic Person Location

ARL

Automatic Resource Location

AVL

Automatic Vehicle Location

CAD

Computer Aided Dispatch

CFS

Call for Service

CTI

Computer Telephony Integration

EMS

Emergency Medical Services

GIS

Geographic Information Systems

HazMat

Hazardous Materials

MDT

Mobile Data Terminal

RMS

Record Management System

Selected Use Case(s)

The GIS BB team has screened several candidate use cases against specific criteria and voted to focus on a GIS-based Incident management system as a primary use case to demonstrate core GIS building block services.

A second use case for Cadastral/Land Information Management is added to show the applicability of the GIS services across several uses.

Other use cases may be considered during the scoping process upon consensus from the GIS BB Team.

High-Level Logical Process Journey

Use Case #1: GIS-Based Incident Management System

The high-level logical journey for any GIS-based Incident Management System (for law enforcement, fire management, EMS, or a combination of them) can typically be broken down into the four main “logical process steps,” where each step depends on the completion of the previous steps:

  1. The first main step is reporting an incident (e.g., CFS, text, automated fire alarm, etc.). This main step covers a range of activities and secondary steps depending on the source, such as call handling, caller information incident information recording, assigning incident classification and priorities, location verification, etc.).

  2. The second major step is responding to the incident. It covers different tasks such as determining the response agency and service area, allocating nearby officers, premises hazards and previous history, etc.). Once a need to respond is granted, the step handles the dispatching of resources to the incident location, which includes evaluating response level and the type and amount of resources that need to be dispatched.

  3. Upon the arrival of dispatched units, the next major step focuses on managing the incident situation (that includes so many decisions and actions that vary per incident type). Activities related to this step include routing and tracking emergency vehicles and resources.

  4. The final major step covers closing the case, disposal of the incident, and archiving the incident report in an RMS (record management system) shared with other agencies.

Several GIS services and functions are needed to support the above-listed steps. Some of these services cut across all the steps, such as GIS data management, map display services, and GIS query. Others are specific to certain steps, such as tracking location verification (specific to incident reporting) or redlining (specific to incident management).

 

Use Case #2: Land Records/Cadastre Management

GIS-based cadastral systems are among the most popular GIS applications in many countries. Cadastre systems are typically used to serve administrative mandates such as recording and managing land ownership, tracking land values, and estimating taxes. In addition, Cadastre systems are the foundation of many digital governmental services such as real estate, rural development, agricultural and forest management, utilities, banks and mortgage applications, and many other services and products.

The logical user journey and lifecycle of land information in a cadastral system covers four main steps performed in a continuum:

  1. Land surveys mapping (typically carried out by a cadastral surveyor, who must adhere to applicable laws and guidelines to determine parcel boundaries) to produce accurate, legitimate, comprehensive, precise, and readily available records of information regarding legal land rights.

  2. Recording land ownership (titles, deeds, etc.)

  3. Valuation and taxation of the land (value of the land, applicable taxes, due dates, etc.)

  4. Facilitating the management and administration of the land records (e.g., transfer of ownership) to ensure up-to-date information.

The endless combination of GIS services related to managing, querying, displaying and reporting geospatial data are used to adapt to a variety of cadastre systems and respond to different requirements and operations performed under these four steps.