Mumbai: Brave New World - GIS based Facility Intelligence

Watching the events on live TV left me with the impression of an ill-organized response to the terror attack. That feeling was amplified by a TV commentary, that response teams entered the hotels without knowledge of the layout. How can, in today’s information technology age a thing like that happen? How did the commanders of the police teams plan the assault? How did they determine what areas had to be secured and in which sequence.

Obviously the hotels couldn’t supply that information. Any decent GIS (Geographic Information System) based Facility Management System could have been a front line tool that would have supplied important information during this crucial time. Floor plans, critical areas, ingress and egress could have been displayed or printed. Any large structure, whether public or private should be required to have this kind of information on hand and make it available not only to the police but also to the fire department, ambulance services, emergency management services and/or military when necessary.

Many TV reporters were rightly impressed by and commented about the bravery of the teams fighting the terrorists. But it is important that in fighting terrorism or any other emergency, that these brave teams are provided with the best information available to protect their lives, as well as the lives of those threatened. What was missing was an investment in “New World” technology on the part of these hotels to provide this most important intelligence concerning safety.

This would not have prevented this attack, but it may have saved some lives and ended this event sooner. Not to mention a potential reduction in the immense damage done to the facilities.