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Throw Out the Playbook, To Win the Superbowl You Need Maps!

On a daily basis the FDNY is tasked with protecting New York City’s 322 square miles and 8+ million citizens. If that mission wasn’t big enough, in 2014, the biggest sporting event in America came calling – the Super Bowl.

The FDNY had the mission-critical task of preserving the safety of NYC residents and thousands of tourists coming to NYC for the game.

The big game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks kicked off a week of events in and around Times Square. In fact, the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII, brought hundreds-of-thousands of spectators, nearly 300 events, across 200 square miles. It was a daunting challenge.

So how did they do it?

The FDNY’s GIS Unit teamed up with PenBay Solutions and Esri’s ArcGIS online to create an event management system – InVision – to secure Super Bowl Blvd.

The GIS unit used maps and mobile access to support planning, operations and situational awareness. It is an amazing example of how InVision software can make a large-scale event, safer and more efficient.

GovLoop got to go behind-the-scenes with the FDNY’s GIS Unit to see the maps in action.

Take a look:

“The Super Bowl was the first time we had the opportunity to provide situational awareness and information to the commanders in the field, utilize mobile and get it done in a fast manner. We didn’t have a lot of time with the Super Bowl; we really had to move quickly to get the application out. The application offered us the opportunity to make that happen in record time.” – Deputy Commissioner Joel Golub, Chief Information Officer, FDNY

The FDNY GIS Unit had been using InVision since 2012 – and found that it was indispensible to managing the complex challenges of the Super Bowl. The technology provided the key planning, operational and situational needs required to maintain safety during the Super Bowl.

Thank you to our industry partners for sponsoring the video. You can also download GovLoop’s Industry Perspective, How GIS Helped Secure Super Bowl XVLIII.

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