Image credit: Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the Attorney General's Department and the Emergency Management Spatial Information Network Australia (EMSINA) has developed a new platform, called EM-LINK, which provides faster access to reliable spatial information for Australia's emergency responders and planners.
With experts predicting a longer and more dangerous southern fire season this year, the new online catalogue is expected to make it easier for all levels of government to help communities better prepare for, and recover from, potential natural disasters.
EM-LINK builds upon Geoscience Australia's existing Location Information Knowledge (LINK) platform, which provides open access to essential spatial datasets across all levels of Australian government. It brings together 113 web service profiles from local, state and federal sources, making them available to government agencies across Australia with a direct interest in emergency management.
This gives emergency response agencies access to an authoritative, national view of a range of hazards including bushfires, floods and storms. This will improve decision-making and increase coordination across agencies. EM-LINK will also strengthen the national approach to emergency response by helping governments identify gaps in existing capabilities.
Geoscience Australia also provides a range of essential tools and mapping information to help emergency management authorities to make informed decisions during a natural disaster, and afterwards during the recovery phase.
This includes providing the Sentinel Hotspot monitoring system, which analyses satellite imagery to detect hotspots, or potential bushfires. It also provides satellite imagery and situational awareness maps that can assist emergency managers.
