Welcome FireMapping Tech a site dedicated to the advocating good uses of technology in the fire service. This blog is dedicated to providing a common sense approach to how technology can be used effectively in the fire service. The authors are fire service professionals.
My rule of thumb of map design follows It is a tool just like an ax The map should use as much real estate on the page as possible. That mean to the margin and use the space for needed preplan information It should be readable while driving down the road in a ladder truck [...]
I would like to introduce a series of blog post called GIS on the Cheap. These are excerpt of a presentation that I have given a few times in the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Fire Users Group. It is common for fire departments to become intimidated of GIS or may be overwhelmed about [...]
Excellent 60 Second Talk on ArcGIS 10 Features
This is a great video giving some tips on using ArcGIS http://www.esri.com/events/feduc/videos/video3.html
This is an excellent tutorial video of what GIS is GIS Video
I get a lot of questions about in vehicle mapping and what is the best solution. I have evaluated several products and I can tell you that all of them are good products. First of all I’ll tell you my bias, the best option for mapping software is software created in a recognized GIS software. The most common application use MapObjects or the newer ArcObjects created by ESRI. There are application based on other mapping applications including MapInfo or Integraph, but the dominate applications are ones created by ESRI.
How to Symbolize Preplan Information on Map
I receive several questions about how to symbolize preplan data. Fortunately ArcMap comes with a symbolset that includes many preplan symbols in the Hazmat symbolset. This symbolset includes most of the NFPA 170 symbols as well as NFPA 704 and some wildland symbols. In addition to using the canned symbols you can use compound symbols [...]
FireMapping Services is a small business dedicated to helping the fire service use GIS in an efficient and cost effective manner. Our business is centered around operational mapping for response including GIS mapping of buildings.
