Monday, October 12th from 15:00 – 15:50
Chris Johnson
Vice President, GTAC – Virtual Alabama Program Manager
U. S. Space & Rocket Center
“Virtual Alabama Updates”
The Alabama Department of Homeland Security (AL DHS) has implemented a statewide 3D visualization program of state geographic and community asset data called Virtual Alabama. Virtual Alabama leverages existing state asset imagery and infrastructure data in an affordable visualization tool that utilizes a 3D globe interface to retrieve images from a merged global imagery dataset, thus allowing geographic and terrain data to be displayed using streaming technology.
The AL DHS has leveraged these technologies to work in a continuing partnership with federal, state, and local government to transform massive amounts of data into useful knowledge providing the common operational picture needed to protect lives and safeguard Alabama citizens in times of man-made or natural disasters.
This technical demonstration will focus on how Alabama is using state of the art visualization technologies to deliver GIS mapping and analytics to a non-technical user base and how data sharing partnerships are being used to build the system. Along with demonstrations of various aspects of the program, the presenters will show how technologies from the military have been leveraged into civilian applications as part of Alabama’s Homeland Security mission. Some examples include: the integration of structures and building floor plans as 3D models, adaptation of plume models, and attaching to sensors to provide the first responder community with the situational awareness and understanding needed to better prepare, prevent, protect, respond, and recover from natural and manmade disasters.
Virtual Alabama just celebrated its third anniversary since reaching Initial Operating Capability (IOC) on July 24, 2006. Today, we have over 5000 users representing over 1450 agencies at all levels of government. None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication from county and municipal agencies across the state which currently provide nearly 90% of the data in the system.
Virtual Alabama is also gaining national recognition and has been awarded 5 National Awards for technology innovation in the past 6 months. They include the National Governors’ Association 2008 Public/Private Partnership Award, the American Council for Technology 2008 Intergovernmental Solutions Award, the Google Superstar Award (first time ever awarded to government agency), the Council of State Governments 2008 Innovations Award, and this week won the Government Computer News Outstanding Information Technology Achievement in Government Award.
We have been working closely with Federal DHS to develop a pilot program for regionalization of the concept. Several states are deploying systems modeled after Virtual Alabama. Our team has met with Departments of Homeland Security and Governors’ offices in 18 states so far. In July 2007, Louisiana implemented a similar system called Virtual Louisiana. Mississippi, Hawaii, Illinois and Texas all have similar systems based on the Virtual Alabama model.
Speaker Bio
Chris Johnson is Vice President of Geospatial Training and Application Center (GTAC) at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and is responsible for management and operations associated with GTAC and the Geospatial Technology programs. She has served as Principal Investigator for U.S. Department of Agriculture, NASA, Department of the Army, and Department of Homeland Security grant programs. Ms. Johnson is the Program Manager for the Virtual Alabama Program; which currently provides situational awareness and operational support to over 5,000 users representing over 1,450 government agencies. Currently, Ms. Johnson is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop a concept of operations for Virtual USA to enhance interstate situational awareness and information sharing. Under Ms. Johnson’s direction, the Virtual Alabama program was awarded 5 National Awards for technology innovation in 2008. They include the National Governors’ Association 2008 Public/Private Partnership Award, the American Council for Technology 2008 Intergovernmental Solutions Award, the Google Superstar Award (first time ever awarded to government agency), the Council of State Governments 2008 Innovations Award, and the Government Computer News Outstanding Information Technology Achievement in Government Award. In May 2009, Virtual Alabama was featured in a Gartner Research Case Study: How Alabama Dares to Defend Itself.
Ms. Johnson has over 18 years of experience in systems design; systems development and testing: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) development; Relational database systems development; Network engineering; Global Positioning Systems (GPS) development, Remote Sensing (RS) and communications. She has served as a consultant to the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Defense Intelligence Agency, Space and Missile Defense Command, NASA, USDA, National Guard Bureau Counter Drug, Criminal Justice Information Center, Homeland Security, and state and local agencies on issues related to system development and the use of GPS, GIS, Remote Sensing and communication systems. Further, Ms. Johnson is a member of the National Guard Bureau Counter Drug Technology Consortium.
Ms. Johnson has more than 28 years experience in the area of business development and management. In 1980, she began the first of six successful start-up companies and is currently a 50% owner of two businesses.
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