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Special Report GIS and the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics by David B. Davis The 2002 Winter Olympics Games recently held in Salt Lake City, Utah was an amazing combination of scenic beauty, inspiring athleticism, high technology, cultural events, community and national pride, as well as never before seen cooperation and coordination of public and private security organizations. It was also an opportunity for a bruised nation to show the world that the Olympics, a symbol of worldwide peace and unity, should and must be held.
For a number of reasons Salt Lake 2002 will always have special meaning to me. To begin with, these Olympics were held in my hometown. I could actually see and hear the fireworks from the opening and closing ceremonies from my backyard. To see the torch relay I only had to walk two blocks from my house. Additionally, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a small way in the Games, as one of over 24,000 Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) volunteers. My assignment was to work as a runner in the 68,000 square foot facilities of NBC in the main media center. I worked for 17 straight days with the NBC crew on the SaltLake2002.com and NBCOlympics.com websites. The opportunity to see how things work behind the scenes as well as the passion these people have to put out the best product possible was something I will never forget. The ever-increasing importance of the Internet for disseminating information was also clearly evident. The number of unique visits and page hits to these two websites were record breaking for a sporting event. One of the most difficult challenges for Mitt Romney, the CEO/President of SLOC and candidate for governor of Massachusetts, and everyone else involved with staging the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Games was to balance sport and celebration with uncompromising security. In spite of the fact that hundreds of police and military personnel were brought in from across the United States the over all atmosphere felt safe but not overbearing. A very sizable portion of the SLOC budget went towards security. Over $300 million dollars was spent by SLOC, the United States federal government, as well as state and local agencies. Most of the security measures were already planned for and in place before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. After the attacks however even more stringent procedures were implemented along with additional federal funding. Some of this funding went towards mapping and GIS related functions and data. LIDAR data was gathered shortly before the Games and provided to a number of governmental and business organizations for improved mapping and 3D work. DOQQ''s (Digital Ortho Quarter Quads) of the region were also recently updated. Shortly before the Games a helicopter flew over much of the Salt Lake City region mapping the level of radioactivity. This was then used during the games as a base value to determine if any new hot spot appeared that could suggest the presence of a nuclear device or materials. Over all most of the mapping, geospatial data, and GIS used in relation to the Salt Lake Winter Games went towards transportation planning and security issues. Obviously an event that covers hundreds of square miles and involves tens of thousands of people cannot be done by a single organization. Many public and private agencies and organizations were called upon to provide data and/or services in this endeavor. What made the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics different from past games was not the fact that so many people and organizations were needed to carry it out but rather the level of coordination and cooperation between all involved. Organizational Efforts The Utah Olympic Public Safety Command (UOPSC) was created to provide a means for all of the local, state, federal, and private organizations involved with SLOC to coordinate efforts and information. Some of the organizations represented on this committee are the secret service, FBI, SLOC, and numerous other national, state, and local law enforcement related agencies. Few if any people in this group were GIS or mapping experts so someone was needed to create professional and precise maps and data layers for them. One of the key people that was able to provide this GIS knowledge and skills was Kevin Bell of the Salt Lake City Division of Transportation. I had the pleasure to visit with him exactly one month before the opening ceremonies. Mr. Bell has had the unenviable task of turning the notes, ideas, and hand drawn maps of the UOPSC into professional maps and GIS data. All of the work done by the Salt Lake City Division of Transportation was with the equipment and software that they already use as part of their normal operations. Asignificant percentage of the Olympics related work they have performed over the last few months wwas largely work they would be doing anyway. However, their extensive database of Salt Lake City related orthoimagery, street maps, building locations, and so forth was invaluable to the UOPSC. For example, by displaying the data layers of streets and buildings and even orthoimagery of an area it was quite simple to determine where particular roads needed to be blocked or restricted to protect certain buildings from explosions or other attacks. Buffer distances could quickly be determined for different size explosions. It also made it easier to visualize how blocking these roads would affect traffic flow. This sometimes resulted in debates in the group as to whether or not changes could be made to the plan that would still achieve the necessary level of security and protection while at the same time improving traffic patterns. GIS and the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics Continued… The ability to deal with high volumes of traffic in the city was already in place long before the Salt Lake Olympics were held. Traffic lights can be set to create all green lights for inroads and out roads from the city for large events such as NBA playoff games, concerts, or general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. With the many traffic cameras in place through out the Salt Lake valley traffic flow can be monitored and stoplights adjusted to improve traffic flow. The Salt Lake City Division of Transportation and Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) can view each other''s cameras.
For the most part the Salt Lake City Division of Transportation used the GIS for creating and printing maps. In all over 100 hardcopy maps were produced. These were generally used for SLOC and government related presentations, press conferences, and meetings. These maps made it much easier for everyone involved to understand and visualize the information and ideas being presented. Thinking of Everything Although the majority of the GIS software and data was used for mapping purposes some interesting GIS analysis was also done. For example view sheds were created for certain parts of the city and in and around different venue locations. These view sheds were used for traffic and security camera placement as well as for determining the best locations for law enforcement snipers. DEM and LIDAR data along with building height information was used to create the different view sheds. A less dramatic use of the GIS data was the city''s engineering department calculating the number of feet of barriers that would be needed for road closures and protection of various locations. The UOPSC had another incredible tool at their disposal. A private, wireless, Internet based network created by the E Team made it possible for all members of the UOPSC to access maps and other information as well as communicate with each other over a secure, password protected environment. Any computer with an Internet connection, including laptop computers and even PDA''s with Windows CE could access the network. This custom made system was developed using GIS technology from ESRI along with a messaging and document sharing system from IBM. This technology was first developed by the E Team for U.S. Military purposes. An interesting tool being used by the police in Salt Lake City combines software with laptop computers or pagers. This system allows officers to search license registration and criminal records as well as communicate with each in the field. The pagers, weighing in at only 4 ounces come from Research In Motion (RIM). The software for this system is made by Versaterm. Both companies are based in Canada. Scenario Planning With so much emphasis on security and safety it is only natural that efforts have been made to protect one of the most precious commodities, water. The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities is responsible for culinary water, sewer, and storm water for the Salt Lake City area. Their domain comprises over 90,000 water connections, 134 sq. miles of coverage, 185 sq. miles of protected watershed, over 1,100 miles of water mains, more than 15,000 water valve, 26 wells, and 7 reservoirs. While maintaining a safe, uncontaminated water supply is always a concern for any water department the level of security must go up a few notches when an event as large as the Olympics is introduced. Fortunately for the residents and visitors to Salt Lake City, the Department of Public Utilities is well prepared. Nick Kryger, the GIS and IT manager of SLC Public Utilities and his crew,are using powerful GIS tools for protecting the water supply as well as preparing for various types of man-made and natural disasters. One of their strongest tools is called CATS (Consequence Assessment Tool Set). This software from SAIC makes it possible to perform "what if" scenarios for such possible events as earthquakes, severe weather, bio-chemical-nuclear hazards, and water line contamination. With this system they are able to see where and how fast a contaminate would travel if the water supply was intentionally or accidentally compromised. The software will show the spread of the contaminate on a map making it possible to determine which valves need to be closed and what areas need to be notified. Listing of residents and businesses in the affected area can be generated including address, occupant name, and phone numbers so that they can be quickly notified. The scenarios can also be played out in reverse to determine where a contamination began. Public Utilities had a representative on the UOPSC so all of the CATS data and analysis capability was also available for their use. The CATS software uses ArcIMS and ArcView. Monitoring and improving traffic flow through out the Salt Lake City region was also a very high priority during the games and for the future. Some $120 million was spent on a system of with over 200 traffic cameras, 60 message boards, 23 road condition sensors, and control over approximately 600 traffic lights. This system is connected by 350 miles of fiber optic cables to the UDOT traffic operations center. Much of this data is available to the public at utahcommuterlink.com. Access to and control of the cameras is available to the UDOT dispatchers only. The cameras cannot be used for under cover operations or other law enforcement uses. Most of the time the imagery is available real time only and rarely video recorded. By telephone a 511 voice activated system provides bus schedules, weather conditions, and driving directions. A system was even put into place to beam information to palm devices and web enabled phones at light rail stations and various other sites throughout the city. This was made possible through the efforts of several companies including: Digital Options, Aether Systems, and Bluefish Wireless. Making Data Available Valuable state and city data was made available from the Utah Automated Geographic Reference Center (AGRC). This agency is the primary resource for GIS related data and services for the State of Utah. Some data that was available not only for serious planning and law enforcement work but also to everyone else as something that was just plain interesting was the 1-meter IKONOS imagery from Space Imaging. Imagery taken January 7, 2002 of Park City, Deer Valley, and the Olympic Village/Rice Eccles Olympic stadium areas was displayed prominently on the Space Imaging website. The imagery was also seen at the beginning of the Opening Ceremonies. You definitely do not need to be a remote sensing or GIS expert to be intrigued by these images. The City of Spokane, Washington even got into the act with one of the most practical Olympics related uses of GIS. Their GIS department produced a map displaying the route of the Olympic torch through their city. It may not have the impressive dollar figures or manpower of some of the other projects mentioned here but does fulfill the main purpose of a GIS, creating useful information from geospatial data. Surely the knowledge gained regarding law enforcement and security as well as technology related to this massive endeavor will find uses in future events. But more than anything hopefully the friendships made and cooperation of many different countries in these 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games will have an influence felt throughout the world. David B. Davis has over nine years of experience in photogrammetry, image processing, GIS and Latin American studies. He also offers GIS implementation consulting, specializing in Latin American projects. He can be reached at carpincho@att.net |
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