Emergency Management (Subsystem*)

The Emergency Management (EM) Subsystem represents public safety, emergency management, and other allied agency systems that support incident management, disaster response and evacuation, security monitoring, and other security and public safety-oriented ITS applications. The subsystem includes the functions associated with fixed and mobile public safety communications centers including public safety call taker and dispatch centers operated by police (including transit police), fire, and emergency medical services. It includes the functions associated with Emergency Operations Centers that are activated at local, regional, state, and federal levels for emergencies and the portable and transportable systems that support Incident Command System operations at an incident. This subsystem also represents other allied systems including centers associated with towing and recovery, freeway service patrols, HAZMAT response teams, and mayday service providers.

The subsystem manages sensor and surveillance equipment used to enhance transportation security of the roadway infrastructure (including bridges, tunnels, interchanges, and other key roadway segments) and the public transportation system (including transit vehicles, public areas such as transit stops and stations, facilities such as transit yards, and transit infrastructure such as rail, bridges, tunnels, or bus guideways). The subsystem provides security/surveillance services to improve traveler security in public areas not a part of the public transportation system.

This subsystem monitors alerts, advisories, and other threat information and prepares for and responds to identified emergencies. It interfaces with other Emergency Management Subsystems to support coordinated emergency response involving multiple agencies. The subsystem stores, coordinates, and utilizes emergency response and evacuation plans to facilitate this coordinated response. As the response progresses, situation information including damage assessments, response status, evacuation information, and resource information are shared to keep all allied agencies appraised of the response. Interface with the Transit Management Subsystem allows coordinated use of transit vehicles to facilitate response to major emergencies and to support evacuation efforts. The Emergency Management Subsystem also provides a focal point for coordination of the emergency and evacuation information that is provided to the traveling public, including wide-area alerts when immediate public notification is warranted.

The subsystem tracks and manages emergency vehicle fleets using real-time road network status and routing information from the other center subsystems to aide in selecting the emergency vehicle(s) and routes that will provide the most timely response. Interface with the Traffic Management Subsystem allows strategic coordination in tailoring traffic control to support emergency vehicle ingress and egress, implementation of special traffic restrictions and closures, evacuation traffic control plans, and other special strategies that adapt the transportation system to better meet the unique demands of an emergency.

Subsystem Interfaces Diagram

This is a context diagram for the entity Emergency Management Subsystem that shows the interfaces to subsystems and every architecture flow that this entity sends or receives, as defined in the National ITS Architecture.  A complete list of  all architecture flows shown on this diagram, is available under the Inputs/Outputs section on this page.
Emergency ManagementTraffic ManagementPersonal Information AccessMaintenance and Construction ManagementTransit ManagementTransit VehicleEmergency VehicleInformation Service ProviderRemote Traveler SupportSecurity MonitoringCommercial Vehicle CheckCommercial VehicleFleet and Freight ManagementPayment AdministrationVehicleArchived Data Managementalert notificationemergency route requestemergency traffic control requestevacuation informationremote surveillance controlroad closure notificationthreat informationtransportation system statusalert statusemergency routesemergency traffic control informationroad network conditionsroad network status assessmenttraffic imagesemergency plan coordinationincident informationincident response statusresource deployment statusresource requestemergency acknowledgeemergency notificationalert notificationevacuation informationincident response statusmaint and constr resource requestsecurity field equipment statusthreat informationtransportation system statuswork plan feedbackalert statuscurrent asset restrictionsmaint and constr resource responsemaint and constr work plansroad network status assessmentroad weather informationroadway maintenance statussecurity equipment maintenance statuswork zone informationemergency plan coordinationincident informationalert notificationemergency transit service requestevacuation informationincident informationincident response statusthreat informationtransportation system statusalert statusemergency transit schedule informationemergency transit service responsetransit emergency datatransit system status assessmentemergency plan coordinationalarm acknowledgesecure area sensor controlsecure area surveillance controlalarm notificationsecure area sensor datasecure area surveillance datatransit vehicle location datadecision support informationemergency dispatch requestssuggested routeemergency dispatch responseemergency vehicle tracking dataincident statusalert notificationevacuation informationincident informationtransportation system statusalert statustransportation information for operationsalarm acknowledgesecure area sensor controlsecure area surveillance controlalarm notificationsecure area sensor datasecure area surveillance datainfrastructure monitoring sensor controlsecure area sensor controlsecure area surveillance controlinfrastructure monitoring sensor datasecure area sensor datasecure area surveillance dataalarmhazmat spill notificationdisable commercial vehiclehazmat information requestalarmhazmat informationalert notificationtoll service change requestalert statustoll service change responseemergency acknowledgeemergency data requestemergency notificationemergency archive dataarchive requestsarchive status
Get the Source Graphic, a Enhanced Windows Metafile (EMF), in ZIP format.

Terminator Interfaces Diagram

This is a context diagram for the entity Emergency Management Subsystem that shows the interfaces to subsystems and every architecture flow that this entity sends or receives, as defined in the National ITS Architecture.  A complete list of  all architecture flows shown on this diagram, is available under the Inputs/Outputs section on this page.
Emergency ManagementOther Emergency ManagementEvent PromotersRail OperationsAlerting and Advisory SystemsEmergency Telecommunications SystemBorder Inspection SystemsCare FacilityEmergency PersonnelEmergency System OperatorWeather ServiceMediaMap Update ProviderPublic Health SystemShelter ProvidersSurface Transportation Weather Servicealert notification coordinationemergency plan coordinationevacuation coordinationincident command information coordinationincident reportincident response coordinationresource coordinationthreat information coordinationtransportation system statusevent confirmationevent plansevacuation informationincident response statusthreat informationtransportation system statusrail incident response statusrail system status assessmentrailroad schedulesemergency plan coordinationincident informationthreat data for analysisthreat informationalerts and advisoriesthreat support dataincident information for publicincident notification responseincident notificationborder incident response statusborder incident informationcare facility status requestcare facility statusincident command information presentationincident command inputsemergency operations statusemergency operations inputsweather informationincident information for mediamap update requestmap updatespublic health requestpublic health responseevacuation informationshelter informationtransportation weather information requesttransportation weather information
Get the Source Graphic, a Windows Metafile (WMF), in ZIP format.

Security Considerations:

The Emergency Management Subsystem provides critical functions that directly impact public safety. It handles sensitive information, must "operate through" and be available in distressed environments, and is subject to numerous threats including both physical and cyber attacks. The Emergency Management Subsystem represents an extremely broad group of call-taking, dispatch, command post, and operations centers. In addition to these public safety and emergency management centers, the Emergency Management Subsystem also represents private sector telematics service providers, service patrol dispatch systems, and security monitoring systems. Each of these systems has unique security vulnerabilities that must be considered in defining appropriate security services. Systems represented by the Emergency Management Subsystem operate in environments ranging from tightly controlled, secure command centers through open field environments when command posts are established in the vicinity of a major incident or disaster. The command post environment, with its reliance on wireless communications and relative lack of physical and environmental protection, has different vulnerabilities than systems operating in a fixed center. The availability requirements for an individual center must be assessed in the context of the concept of operations for the region. For example, the availability requirements for a service patrol dispatch system may not be high because the dispatch operation may be moved to an emergency operations center in times of crisis. The emergency operations center would have much more stringent availability requirements in this scenario. Similarly, the sensitivity and value of the information handled by each specific system must be evaluated to determine appropriate security safeguards for integrity and confidentiality. While it is good practice for all systems, a rigorous evaluation of security objectives, threats, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures is particularly important for each system represented by the Emergency Management Subsystem.

Functionality: Equipment Packages* and PSpecs*

Inputs/Outputs: Architecture Flows* and Data Flows*

Alerting and Advisory Systems flows into Emergency Management

Archived Data Management flows into Emergency Management

  • archive requests (Architecture Flow*) - A request to a data source for information on available data (i.e. "catalog") or a request that defines the data to be archived. The request can be a general subscription intended to initiate a continuous or regular data stream or a specific request intended to initiate a one-time response from the recipient.
    Data Flows*:

  • archive status (Architecture Flow*) - Notification that data provided to an archive contains erroneous, missing, or suspicious data or verification that the data provided appears valid. If an error has been detected, the offending data and the nature of the potential problem are identified.
    Data Flows*:

Border Inspection Systems flows into Emergency Management

Care Facility flows into Emergency Management

Commercial Vehicle flows into Emergency Management

Commercial Vehicle Check flows into Emergency Management

  • alarm (Architecture Flow*) - Information about a Commercial Vehicle or Freight Equipment breach, non-permitted security sensitive hazmat detected at the roadside, route deviation, or Commercial Vehicle Driver / Commercial Vehicle / Freight Equipment assignment mismatches which includes the location of the Commercial Vehicle and appropriate identities.
    Data Flows*:

Emergency Management flows into Alerting and Advisory Systems

Emergency Management flows into Archived Data Management

  • emergency archive data (Architecture Flow*) - Logged emergency information including information that characterizes identified incidents (routine highway incidents through disasters), corresponding incident response information, evacuation information, surveillance data, threat data, and resource information. Content may include a catalog of available information, the actual information to be archived, and associated meta data that describes the archived information.
    Data Flows*:

Emergency Management flows into Border Inspection Systems

Emergency Management flows into Care Facility

Emergency Management flows into Emergency Personnel

Emergency Management flows into Emergency System Operator

Emergency Management flows into Emergency Telecommunications System

Emergency Management flows into Emergency Vehicle

Emergency Management flows into Event Promoters

Emergency Management flows into Fleet and Freight Management

Emergency Management flows into Information Service Provider

Emergency Management flows into Maintenance and Construction Management

Emergency Management flows into Map Update Provider

Emergency Management flows into Media

Emergency Management flows into Other Emergency Management

Emergency Management flows into Payment Administration

Emergency Management flows into Personal Information Access

Emergency Management flows into Public Health System

Emergency Management flows into Rail Operations

Emergency Management flows into Remote Traveler Support

Emergency Management flows into Security Monitoring

Emergency Management flows into Shelter Providers

Emergency Management flows into Surface Transportation Weather Service

Emergency Management flows into Traffic Management

Emergency Management flows into Transit Management

Emergency Management flows into Transit Vehicle

Emergency Management flows into Vehicle

Emergency Personnel flows into Emergency Management

Emergency System Operator flows into Emergency Management

Emergency Telecommunications System flows into Emergency Management

Emergency Vehicle flows into Emergency Management

Event Promoters flows into Emergency Management

Fleet and Freight Management flows into Emergency Management

Information Service Provider flows into Emergency Management

Maintenance and Construction Management flows into Emergency Management

Map Update Provider flows into Emergency Management

Other Emergency Management flows into Emergency Management

Payment Administration flows into Emergency Management

Personal Information Access flows into Emergency Management

Public Health System flows into Emergency Management

Rail Operations flows into Emergency Management

Remote Traveler Support flows into Emergency Management

Security Monitoring flows into Emergency Management

Shelter Providers flows into Emergency Management

Surface Transportation Weather Service flows into Emergency Management

Traffic Management flows into Emergency Management

Transit Management flows into Emergency Management

Transit Vehicle flows into Emergency Management

Vehicle flows into Emergency Management

Weather Service flows into Emergency Management