Virtual USA (vUSA)
Geospatial Interoperability for Emergency Response

Christopher I. McIntosh
Subject Matter Advisor
Department of Homeland Security Virtual USA Program

November 18, 2009
Contents:
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Transcript (HTML)
Transcript (MS Word)
Slides
Reviews
Rate/Review This Session

Related Websites:
11/6/09 blog post, "Officials from Across Goverment Laud vUSA at Regional Pilot Demonstration"
DHS Fact Sheet, "Virtual USA: Advancing Interoperability at All Levels"
DHS Fact Sheet, "Southeast Regional Operations Platform Pilot"
Federal Computer Week article, "Officials Eye a Geospatial Virtual USA"
Virginia Interoperability Picture for Emergency Response (VIPER)
Virtual Alabama
RATINGS
46 Ratings Submitted
16 (35%) Academia 6 (13%)
22 (48%) Business 11 (24%)
6 (13%) Government 18 (39%)
2 (4%) Volunteers 4 (9%)
0 (0%) Other 7 (15%)
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REVIEWS

"Great program!"
Ric Skinner

"It was a little hard to hear the moderator so it was difficult to understand what the speaker was saying during the Q&A."

"Very professional presentation, highly informative."
Ron Kellis
IEM, Inc.

"Good presentation, I'd be interested in follow on talks on implementation."
Mark Besch
NUARI

"Very good overview of the system and its benefits."
James Rushing
Civil Air Patrol

"This was an excellent presentation. I appreciate all the work that went into the development of Viper and vUSA."

"Well done, good information."
Jeff Sopel
ESRI


"Very good presentation. Well put together, interesting, and informative."
Kenny Ratliff
Kentucky Army National Guard

"Great information. We are in the process of building a training center where we will be able to bring in other individuals from outside agencies and we too are trying to build a COP using ESRI so that we can show individuals the power of it. I appreciate the information greatly. Thanks again!"
Clinton Andersen
Community College of Aurora, CO

"I am in the Pacific Northwest and will be attending a meeting about Virtual USA next month. This was great session so I could learn more before attending the meeting."

"Good general overview."

"Was the best explanation of Virtual USA I've heard. Outstanding presentation, well organized, smooth, informative. Good examples with VIPER and Virtual AL."
Russ Strickland
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab

"Very worthwhile session. We all need to work to share information and our communication and information systems need to be interoperable. vUSA is a step in the right direction."
Mike Calvert
CUSEC

"We would like to discuss the actual formats of the data being shared. We are doing something similar across military organizations and with DHS/first responders, using XML messaging of Chem/Bio/Radiological/Nuclear events, and have created a common data model that is in wide use in the US and in NATO countries. We are also in that decision phase of GIS/GML/KML formats for spatial data. Please contact us. Thanks."
Rick Powell
Alion Science and Technology, Inc.

"Terrific session. The topic was cutting-edge and the speaker was one of the go-to SMEs. I was not able to attend the recent ROPP demo at FEMA, and this makes up for it. Thanks!"
Shawn Fenn
FEMA NCRC

"Best presentation yet. Goal: 'common set of procedures & techniques and success stories' to reuse to promote collaboration, real time information sharing and the COP. Please consider the Heart Beacon presenting at the 2010 Network Centric Warfare Conference as a v_USA low level support procedure / mechanism."
Steven McGee
Simple Wins Concepts, LLC

"Very well done and interesting."
Mary Hughes
FEMA


"Well done, informative. Especially interested in the 'Report by Exception' concept in terms of selecting attributes to be monitored, setting criteria, and establishing thresholds."
Jim Macdonald
Government of Alberta (Canada) - Alberta Emergency Management Agency

"Great information for teaching Emergency Management classes. I would love for students to be able to access and help build these systems."

"Good presentation - very informative."

"Good presentation."
Jeannie Watanabe
Utah AGRC

"Great, have looked at VIPER and trying to mirror...this was a great help!!!"
Clancy Finmand
Washoe Co. School District

"Very interesting - I'm curious about keeping up with GIS initiatives and how others are visualizing their incident management. The topic is of interest, but the specific content of the presentation isn't directly applicable to my job. Thank you for opening up the participation!"
Mark Elsenheimer
MMC Inc.
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CHRISTOPHER McINTOSH

Christopher I. McIntosh serves as a subject matter advisor for the Virtual USA program. Prior to that, he served as the Operations Section Chief at the Virginia Emergency Operations Center where he was responsible for coordinating the response to large scale incidents and events affecting multiple jurisdictions in the Commonwealth, as well as the operation of the VEOC's Watch Center. Mr. McIntosh developed and fielded the Virginia Interoperability Picture for Emergency Response (VIPER), which serves as common operating picture for the state.

Mr. McIntosh served over ten years in the United States Navy, separating in 2005. He began his career as a Hospital Corpsman specializing in environmental health, industrial hygiene, and communicable disease control. After numerous assignments supporting hospital, surface ship, and fleet marine force units, he was selected for the Enlisted Commissioning Program in 1999. After commissioning, he served in both the Operations and Combat Systems Departments onboard several surface ships, and conducted numerous deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle. Prior to joining VDEM, Mr. McIntosh was an Operations Analyst for the Navy component of the National Ballistic Missile Defense Program in Arlington, Virginia.

Mr. McIntosh is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelors Degree in History. His professional education includes Naval Preventive Medicine School, the Virginia Professional Management Institute, the Aegis Combat Systems Officer course, and the National Hurricane Center preparedness course.