Response: A Building Floor Plan Digital Mapping Tool Virtual Assessment Report

Response (formerly the “Data Upload Mechanism for Sharing Floor Plans and Site Safety Data”) is a software tool that converts building floor plans into simplified digital plans that highlight safety features relevant to emergency response. These digitized plans integrate with geospatial information system (GIS) maps and could be made accessible as a software as a service for fire service personnel conducting planning activities or responding to a building incident. While many municipalities have outdoor GIS systems (e.g., ESRI ArcGIS), maintaining detailed indoor data is much more difficult because of the greater frequency of indoor environment changes and the fragmented ownership of indoor plans. To address this challenge, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) partnered with MappedIn to develop Response.

S&T's National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) conducted a technical demonstration and assessment of Response on April 20, 2022, to evaluate the suitability of Response for public safety use. Prototype technologies that are developed to bridge capability gaps identified by S&T's First Responder Resource Group (FRRG) undergo an Operational Field Assessment (OFA) by NUSTL to verify and document that project goals were met. The OFA is an important step to transitioning DHS S&T supported research and development to the commercial market.