The GWU Team Scope and Approach

The scope of this study was limited to the assessment of the use of GTs such as GIS, Remote Sensing, spatially explicit modeling and geographic data in the USACE operations at the WTC. The study only looked at those GTs that were provided or developed for use at the WTC response in NYC for engineering and public works (ESF#3), in support to information and planning (ESF#5), and in support to urban search and rescue (ESF#9) related tasks.

The main method employed to collect primary data was personal and telephone interviews. Before beginning the interview process, a questionnaire with a set of open-ended questions was prepared. In most cases, this questionnaire was e-mailed to those key officials ahead of time in order to focus the interviews.  The questions served as a rough guideline since the assessment primarily sought to obtain insight on personal experiences of the persons interviewed and their opinions of use of GTs. The questionnaire is included in the Appendix section of this report.

In addition to the telephone interviews, the research team visited USACE Headquarters and  FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and also visited New York City where they talked with the representatives of the NYC Office of Emergency Management , the GIS Program Office of the NYC Parks and Recreation Natural Resources Group and the key executives of Brainstorm, a company that assisted in generating computer animated maps and models of the WTC site for use by several local and Federal agencies.

The research team took the minutes of the interviews and when possible, validated the accuracy and correctness of the transcriptions with the interviewees themselves. In this report, however, the opinions and findings are not directly attributed to those officials who participated in the interview process. The research team analyzed and synthesized the information gathered through these interviews.

In addition to the interview notes, the GWU team also relied on secondary sources such as after-action meeting reports, and notes and other documents.

The research team attended the FEMA/USACE 911 Geospatial Hot Wash on May 3, 2002 at FEMA Headquarters in order to obtain additional perspectives on the use of GTs.  The research team presented their preliminary observations that they gathered through their review of primary and secondary sources.