THE CANADIAN GEOSPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE: LOCATION-BASED INFORMATION SHARING STRATEGIES FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNITY

Municipal and regional governments, provincial emergency ma nagement organizations and national public safety and security agencies are mandated with responding to public safety and security situations. There is an increasing need for inter-jurisdictional co-operation and exchange of information to deal effectively with single- and multiplemandate emergency and disaster events and to create ‘national situational awareness’. The state of public safety and security information sharing has evolved significantly over the past decade and many opportunities still exist to increase and better facilitate information sharing. Progressively, organizations have transformed their businesses to take advantage of location-based information to support complex public safety and security decisions. However, there are significant technology, policy and cultural issues constraining these opportunities. The data is often collected and maintained within various levels of governments for the business requirements of the particular jurisdiction; for various reasons, it is not shared. In many cases these data sets are only compatible with the databases and geographic information systems operating within the individual organization. In order to achieve the maximum value of sharing location-based information and achieve ‘national situational awareness’ for emergency managers, a mechanism to allow for the open exchange of information between organizations must be established. A national partnership program, GeoConnections, is workin g with the public safety and security community to evolve and expand the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) to facilitate the open exchange of locationbased information. This paper will outline relevant programs and policies that facilitate information sharing, and will provide a case study of an inter-jurisdictional application that is improving horizontal, location-based information sharing.