Go2It Responder, SDR’s in-vehicle mapping and navigation tool, was built on the platform of SDR’s successful Go2It Dispatch call mapping product (link to appropriate product page).  Designed for the rural emergency response agency, Go2It Responder integrates GPS location and navigation tools with proven map query and location functionality. 

Unlike over-the-counter products that integrate mapping with GPS location, Go2It Responder uses your GIS data and does not rely on pre-packaged digital maps.  Your GIS data—including road centerlines, address point locations, emergency response zones, corporate boundaries, land ownership parcels and a variety of other layers—is created in-house by your county or city and most importantly, is maintained over time as new roads and structures are built and as boundaries change. The map data used by Go2It Responder is easily updated on field computers so emergency providers have constant access to the latest GIS mapping data.

Go2It Responder users can load any ESRI shapefiles as reference layers and standard imagery formats including .tif and .sid.  Specific address location relies on road name information in the GIS data being parsed out in the standard NENA format.

The GPS interface included with the Responder software is based on the GPS-server pioneered by SDR in 1998 with our Tao software for ArcView 3.  Clients can utilize any USB or serial GPS device using NMEA format, as well as most Trimble GPS units.  Go2It Responder clients have paired Go2It Responder with Blue Tooth devices, Trimble receivers, inexpensive mini-USB devices and GPS cards.  While the accuracy of the GPS position is dependent on the specifications of the receiver and geographic and atmospheric conditions, even the less expensive solutions, used with accurate GIS data, deliver adequate results.

Area Measurement Tool

Hydrant Closest to Emergency

Fire fighters responding to brush or grass fires can calculate acreage affected with Go2It’s easy measurement tools.  The measurement tools allow linear measurement along roads or other features as well as area calculation in acreage, square feet or square miles.  If a layer showing fire hydrants is loaded, responders can push a button to show the closest hydrants to an emergency location.  As emergency responders
often respond to vehicle
accidents, Go2It Responder
features an easy intersection
location tool as well.
 
The Fire Department of Eunice, New Mexico, recently installed Go2It Responder in its small fleet.  Eunice is a town of about 2500 in Lea County in Southeastern New Mexico, close to the Texas border.  In this land of cattle and oil, rural homes are spread out and many of the runs made by the Eunice Fire Department are not to residential homes or businesses. 

SDR’s Software Trainer and Installer, Kevin Coyne, had the chance to ride with Eunice Fire Chief, Ron Grogen when a call came in while he was training the crew on Go2It Responder.  The department had recently purchased rugged laptops and mounted docking stations for their units. Installing the Go2It Responder software, supported by GIS data provided by Lea County, was the final step in this critical mapping application. 

Says Kevin: “During the afternoon of my installation I was just about done configuring the software to their liking when a call came in for a grass fire out of town. The firemen suddenly came to life and headed out in a fire truck. I was working with Ron, the Chief, on the software. He got up and started running to his vehicle and turned back to me and said “Do you want to go?” So I grabbed the Toughbook and we got in the Chief’s SUV. I plugged in the Toughbook and started up Go2It while the Chief was flying through town with the lights flashing and sirens blaring on the vehicle. After zooming thru many intersections we got out of town and were flying down the freeway at 98 mph. Go2It tracks just fine at 98 mph! We arrived at the fire. It was a small grass fire in the median between the freeway lanes. Fortunately, we got there quickly and put the fire out quickly. It turns out that the fire was started by a seized up bearing that had come out of a wheel that had flown off a trailer.”

As part of his documentation of the fire incident, the Chief tells dispatch and records the township and range of the fire’s location. I had set up Go2It with Lea County’s section layer so he could quickly see and get the township and range. After the fire was declared out, the Chief using Go2It immediately had the information he needed to give to his dispatch and for his records. He was thrilled. Before Go2It, the Chief would drive around the oil fields to the closest oil well with a sign giving the township and range. I figured in this instance we saved 5 – 10 minutes of driving around oil fields.

We started driving back to Eunice when almost immediately we got another call. There was a potential heart attack at the library. Chief Ron is the only paramedic in town. So he turns on the lights and the sirens and we go 98 mph again. They ended up taking the woman with the heart condition in an ambulance to the hospital in Hobbs. But because of Go2It Responder, we were able to get the town’s only paramedic to the patient 5 – 10 minutes faster.”

While it’s evident that Kevin didn’t retire from a career in Emergency Response to come to work for SDR, his excitement was only partially from the adrenaline rush of a fire call.  He was equally excited to see a great product in action.  “It was great working with the Eunice Fire Department,” he said.  “Go2It Responder offers them the opportunity to have the technology the bigger city fire departments have and to benefit from the great GIS data maintained by their county.  It’s a win-win situation.  Even a volunteer fire department with older laptops and inexpensive GPS cards can use Go2It Responder to trim critical response time.”

Kevin Coyne lives in Eureka California where he enjoys fishing, kayaking, napping and collecting banana slugs.  He joined SDR in 2001 and serves as our lead Software Support Engineer and ArcPad Developer.