Background

The Maryland Emergency Management Agency has been working with the Towson University Center for Geographic Information Sciences to roll out a suite of interoperable tools to state and local government emergency managers. The tools include the Emergency Management Mapping Application (EMMA^©), Crisis Information Management System (CIMS) software, and the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN). These technology tools improve state and local government agencies’ ability to visualize and analyze incidents in a map-based context and communicate more directly with emergency managers and response personnel. The Governor's Office of Homeland Security, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Transportation, and Towson University are spearheading this effort in coordination with the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC).