1. ANS EPRRSD - 13th
Robotics & Remote Systems for Hazardous Environments • 11th
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Knoxville, TN, August 7-10, 2011, on CD-ROM, American Nuclear Society, LaGrange Park, IL (2011)
CREATE, CONNECT, COLLABORATE: GOOGLE TECHNOLOGIES IN
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
ABSTRACT
Google isn't just for researching information, finding the local restaurants, or viewing the
popularity of your own name. There's much more functionality. For example, you can use Google
Apps to check gas prices in your area, create custom maps of incidents or evacuation routes, view
street-level images of major cities and facilities, track packages, get flight statuses, etc. The same
functionality crosses over to emergency management.
The internet transformed the way emergency managers interact with the public before,
during, and after emergencies. By understanding and utilizing the tools and techniques on hand,
emergency management professionals have the opportunity to reach the public with accurate,
timely, relevant, and easily accessible information. Google offers many free tools that benefit
emergency preparedness and response. Several emergency management agencies across the
nation have already taken advantage of Google applications to increase preparedness, response,
and recovery efforts. This presentation provides emergency management professionals with
practical applications and examples of how emergency management is taking advantage of free
Google applications to increase efficiency and collaboration. All it takes is a little ingenuity and
knowledge of Google applications to complement your emergency management program and
related preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
Key Words: Google, collaboration, technology, preparedness, emergency management,
emergency public information
1 INTRODUCTION
Do you remember life before Google? How about life without the internet? The public is
quickly adjusting how they do research, collaborate with each other, seek current events, and
especially determine what ‘just happened’.
In the past we used a computer to surf the web and a phone to call someone…

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If that fact is truly in the past, then what do we have today? Well, that’s simple, or is it?
The public is now using a phone to surf the web and a computer to call someone.
It’s time to set the stage for the new emergency management landscape and meet your
public where they live with Google Apps.
2 GOOGLE AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
You are no longer ON the web… you are IN the web… it is immersive. The concept of
information has changed and that changes everything! When someone speaks of transforming
the way we disseminate and collaborate across the internet Google is there. Odds are you
already spend a lot of time on Google and we want it to be time well spent, so let’s see if we can
help focus your online energy for the greater good.
Google Apps:
 Are a powerful suite of cloud based messaging and collaboration tools which
empower its users by providing technology as a secure, reliable, scalable hosted
service in the cloud
 Require little or no software costs per user with minimal required programming
expertise and low complexity applications
 Are NOT just for researching information, finding the local restaurants, or viewing
the popularity of your own name (c'mon, we know you do it)
 Generate 3D models of facilities, create custom maps of incidents or evacuation
routes, view street-level images of major cities and facilities, track assets, and even
translate web pages
 Take traditional offline applications and brings them online (ex. A free collaborative
alternative to purchasing MS Office)
 Provide centralized data storage with 24/7 access
 Create freedom from desktop applications

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The public is quick to evolve and constantly looking for the ‘next big thing’… it is this
paper’s goal to help agencies arm themselves with information and the tools to keep up. Imagine
accomplishing a large crisis response effort such as Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, New
Zealand’s earthquake, or Brazil’s and Australia’s floods without Facebook, Twitter, or Google.
On a grand scale, Google has developed a Crisis Response site to assist with natural
disasters and humanitarian crises – this site includes emergency alerts, news updates, and
donation opportunities. It also enables collaboration among crisis responders and victims with
Person and Resource Finders. Of course no site would be complete without satellite imagery and
maps of affected areas illustrating damage and assisting with navigating disaster zones. The
Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Office is utilizing mainstream social tools and quickly
gaining ‘fans’ and ‘followers’. Facebook lends itself to BEFORE AND AFTER events and
Twitter brings real-time tweets of information to all followers DURING events.
And that was just 2011! These are just a few examples of how the internet has ultimately
changed our ability to interact with the public before, during, and after an emergency.

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3 GOOGLE APPS IN A NUTSHELL
The secret to success with Google is to try as many apps as possible in
order to identify the right solution for your emergency management
program. However, there are a few ‘must have’ apps to help with
emergency management and here is what we suggest you include in your
Google toolbox.
FREE Apps
Communication Gmail, Voice, Talk, Alerts, Blogger
Desktop Docs, Calendar, Reader
Web Sites, iGoogle, Translate, Person Finder,
Resource Finder, YouTube, Picasa
Mapping Earth, Maps, Builder, SketchUp
BUSINESS Solutions ($50 / user / year) includes all free apps plus:
Enterprise Apps for Government Solutions, Video and
Groups for Business
Features 25GB email storage per user, BlackBerry and
Microsoft Outlook interoperability
Security SSO, forced SSL, custom password strength
requirements
Support / Reliability 99.9% uptime guarantee SLA and 24x7
support
4 BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER – GOOGLE IS THERE
You never know when to be prepared… so during
down times, if ever really have down times, be preparing
personnel, public messages, and all means for publishing
your message to the public or participating exercise staff –
which ever the case may be. Below is a table of when
Google Apps could be used (our suggestions are
highlighted). The first column contains the Google Apps
BEFORE and AFTER an event or exercise which will
ultimately help collaboration, preparedness, accessibility,
and awareness. The second column contains the Google
Apps DURING an event or exercise which provides
accurate, timely, and relevant information throughout the

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time of need. Following the table you can find further details about some of the Google Apps as
well as examples of successful implementations across the nation.
BEFORE and AFTER DURING
Docs / Calendar
Picasa / YouTube
Blogger / Alerts
Sites / iGoogle
Maps / Earth / Builder
Voice / Talk / Gmail
Person Finder (Resource Finder)
SketchUp
Translate
Docs / Calendar
Picasa / YouTube
Blogger / Alerts
Sites / iGoogle
Maps / Earth / Builder
Voice / Talk / Gmail
Person Finder (Resource Finder)
SketchUp
Translate
5 DOCS/CALENDAR
The most common tool to increase collaboration and efficiency in emergency management
is Google Docs. Google Docs is a web-based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation
tool which allows users to create and edit documents from anywhere and collaborate with
multiple people at the same time. Documents are saved online and can be accessed from any
device with an Internet connection.
Emergency Management professionals
also find Google Calendar to be an effective
free, collaborative tool. Google Calendar is
an easy-to-use, web-based application
designed to manage departmental or
organizational events in one place. If
multiple schedules need to be balanced users
can create additional calendars to stay
organized. This allows separate tracking for
Training, Exercises, Events, Departments,
etc. Another freedom Google Calendar
provides is the ability to take your calendar
with you on your smart device. Access
calendar data directly from your phone or mobile browser, sync with Android apps, share
schedules, and even get reminders via native phone notifications, emails, or text.

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6 SITES/IGOOGLE
One tool that emergency management agencies have used to quickly connect with
responders and the public is Google Sites/iGoogle.
Sites – Create and share
web pages with a few simple
clicks, customize a site for
your organization or event,
integrate other Google Apps
with Google Sites so an entire
emergency management
presence is easily accessible or
just customize your Google
homepage with iGoogle.
iGoogle – Helps you
organize information, like
alerts that come in via email or
phone, RSS feeds that allow
you to subscribe to
information sources. With
iGoogle, combine all of these
sources into one convenient view. Here you can subscribe to news feeds, add 'gadgets' (i.e.
weather tracking) and even make your own custom gadgets. This tool may help you get one step
closer to managing your incoming flood of Emergency Management information.
7 MAPS/EARTH/BUILDER
Emergency Management professionals also find Google Maps, Earth, and the new Builder to
be effective free, collaborative
tools. The possibilities of
using Google Maps and Earth
are endless. From displaying
the nearest bus stop to the
devastation from the
earthquakes and tsunami in
Japan, the mapping service
offers many uses. Google
makes data more digestible for
everyone from average
citizens to emergency
management agencies and
personnel. While expensive
and precise geographic
information systems (GIS) are
the mainstay of many
agencies, Google Maps and

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Earth are considered as a valuable Web 2.0 tools to better serve the masses—not to mention the
reduction of strain on budgets.
Maps/Earth – Bring the power of Google's cloud to your geospatial data. Maps and Earth
will give you the power to generate evacuation routes, display Hazmat hot and cold zones,
identify facilities near a mass casualty incident, or embed photos and videos directly in your
map.
Builder – Allows organizations to upload and manage data from multiple departments and
create custom layers then share these maps with personnel to view.
8 VOICE/TALK/GMAIL
Communications can take on several forms and Google addresses several with their
communication and messaging solutions providing flexibility in an instant. What could this
mean to emergency management? How about operations within a JIC, EOC, or Mobile
Command?
Voice – Offers a variety of features including forwarding a single
published number to ring any phone anywhere anytime (or on a
schedule you configure), and even transcription of voicemails to text.
Talk – Utilizes video conference capabilities through Gmail or
iGoogle with just a simple plug-in download.
Gmail - Simple, easy, and efficient web-based email client with all
the comforts of enterprise email solutions. The built-in chat and video conferencing of Google
Talk give you a fully flexible email program without any of the costs.
9 SKETCHUP
By this point you have seen what Google maps and GIS solutions can do for you but
wouldn’t it be nice if you had 3D models of your facility, city, county, or even emergency
apparatus integrated into your custom maps? Well that is where SketchUp comes into the
equation.
SketchUp – A powerful 3D modeling tool allowing
quick design and share renderings of your facility,
structure preplans, or apparatus. Once in SketchUp
you can even utilize models rendered by other
agencies and display them on your custom
maps or within Google Earth. All
work can be saved online and
published for anyone to use,
created from scratch or
downloaded from the 3D
Warehouse.

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10 PERSON FINDER (RESOURCE FINDER)
Person Finder – An online tool that is said to be ‘born of disaster’. It is a hub for
information built completely with open source technology which allows collection of records and
enables people to search online for their
loved ones who were either injured or
missing during a catastrophic event. The
scalability of Person (or Resource) Finder is
unmatched and anyone who wanted to help
provide information could do so online.
One hour after the 9.0 earthquake struck
Japan on March 11, Person Finder was up
and running, collecting records and enabling
people to search through them online.
Thousands of records were uploaded the first
day as a massive tsunami followed the
catastrophic quake. Nearly three weeks later,
with the resulting nuclear plant crisis still
unfolding, Google Person Finder was
tracking about 607,000 records.
But Person Finder, while being launched
for the crisis in Japan so quickly, got its start
as a product of Google.org after the Haiti
earthquake, in January 2010.
Resource Finder – Provides a Google
map with up-to-date information on the
availability of health services in your localized area.
11 TRANSLATE
Ok, you have created an online emergency management or preparedness site with
documents, calendars, and maps but what if your audience is unable to read English? No
problem, you have Google
Translate to assist with over
50 languages.
Translate – Gives you
the ability to get your
emergency message out in
multiple languages and even
allows translations of
incoming SMS messages on
your mobile device with an
Android Translate version.
Quickly translate a sentence,
text message, web page, or

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entire site if necessary. You can even scan this QR barcode to download Google Translate for
Android. Or, search for "Google Translate" in Android Market.
12 EXAMPLES OF GOOGLE IN ACTION
Now for several examples of Google in action for Emergency Management throughout the
nation:
 Colorado State:
o http://dola.colorado.gov/dem/exercise/exercise.htm (Docs)
o http://www.coemergency.com (Blogger)
o http://www.coemergency.com/p/preparedness.html (Docs)
o http://www.coemergency.com/p/operations.html (Calendar)
o http://www.blogger.com/profile/11850384415271750076 (Blogger)
o http://www.coloradoepc.org (Blogger)
 Larimer County, CO
o http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/11/larimer-county-moves-to-google-
apps-in.html (Gmail, Docs, Sites, Talk)
 Recent Tornados across the South
o http://maps.google.com/maps?ftr=crisisresponse.kmlpanel:src=southern_us_torna
dos_4_2011&cad=southern_us_tornadoes_4_2011
 Wyoming State:
o http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/10/wyoming-is-going-google.html
o http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/article.asp?id=54156
 Greenwood County, S.C. and Utah State:
o http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/IT-Management/Saving-Taxpayer-Dollars-
158639/1/
 Others include NY University, LA City, etc.
Colorado State has done an excellent job utilizing Google Apps, incorporating Google Docs
and Calendar, and in some cases delivering their emergency preparedness messages with Google
Blogger websites.
Larimer County, Colorado is another example of moving to Google Apps with the intent to
create a more collaborative and functional government office for their 1800 employees. An
added benefit of this switch from traditional servers and support is an estimated annual savings
of $50-$75K.
In fact, this past year, Google launched a version of its productivity suite tailored for
government customers that meets federal IT security benchmarks. According to Google, Apps

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for Government is the first cloud computing suite to receive FISMA (Federal Information
Security Management Act) moderate accreditation, designed to standardize IT security across the
government.
13 CONCLUSIONS
When it comes to technology, the public races forward at blistering speeds, eager to try the
latest and greatest. It is the intent of this paper to help those serving and protecting the public
keep up with their audience. Google has helped many agencies and organizations cope with the
rapidly changing landscape and I believe will continue to provide simple, low cost, and easy-to-
use tools for anyone and everyone.
14 REFERENCES
1. Google, www.google.com, (2011).
2. Los Angeles Times, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/google-
person-finder-started-after-haiti-hurrican-katrina-seen-advancement-in-japan-
eartquake-tsunam.html, (2011).
3. Google, http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/resources.html, (2011).
4. San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/04/20/businessinsider-google-opens-mapping-platform-
to-big-companies-2011-4.DTL, (2011).
5. ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm,
(2011).
6. Government Technology, http://www.govtech.com/enterprise-technology/Google-
Apps-Wins-Support-in-Smaller-Governments-Too.html, (2011).