ACT Emergency Services Agency Computer Aided Dispatch System

Fact Sheet 2008-6

The ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) is responsible for emergency management and related support arrangements in the Territory. The Agency has four operational services: the ACT Ambulance Service (including the SouthCare Aeromedical Rescue Service), ACT Fire Brigade, ACT Rural Fire Service and the ACT State Emergency Service.

One of the Agency’s primary information management systems is its spatially enabled, centralised, Computer Aided Dispatch System or CAD. This centralised system uses spatial data to aid in prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities.

The CAD uses a centralised addressing gazetteer to locate requests for assistance and emergency calls. The gazetteer incorporates information from sources such as the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF) and government ‘points of interest’ datasets. However, it is the value-added datasets that come from internal sources such as the Fire Brigade’s Automatic Fire Alarm (AFA) register that add vital information to the gazetteer for use across the Agency.

This extra information enables the ACT Ambulance Service, when responding to a triple zero (000) call, to query the database for additional location specific information such as a building name. This information, which is sourced from the Fire Brigade’s AFA register, assists the responding unit to more quickly and accurately identify their destination.

In 2008, the ESA is embarking on a risk-based resource allocation project. Temporal, incident-related spatial data stored within the CAD, combined with risk models developed by the ESA’s Risk Management Section, will provide valuable inputs to this project.

For further information, please contact the relevant jurisdictional representative for this capability or the NSIM Secretariat.

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  ACT Emergency Services Agency Computer Aided Dispatch System - PDF (343 KB)