Yesterday Bern Szukalski showcased the upcoming release of ArcGIS Explorer at the opening plenary of the 2009 ESRI Homeland Security Summit held in conjunction with the 2009 ESRI User Conference in San Diego.

Opening remarks were made by former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer who explained the need for timely and authoritative data for making informed decisions.

Bern began his presentation by agreeing that authoritive GIS data and analysis performed by GIS experts was indeed essential, and that ArcGIS Explorer was an ideal choice for delivering that GIS-based information to a broad audience of decision makers. He explained that many people involved in homeland security issues are not GIS experts, but still need to use GIS data, and that ArcGIS Explorer is a good choice for providing GIS access to more people.

He showcased several scenarios. The first showed the results of an analysis of stage 1 through 4 storm surge areas in Dorchester County, Maryland. Using Explorer the analysis results, delivered as layer packages created in ArcGIS Desktop, could be shared and viewed by others.

He also showed the result of a social vulnerability model in both 2D and 3D.

He then showed several examples of how Explorer could be used in fire response. He integrated videos with fire locations, and also showed how post-fire damage asessment could be imported using GPS locations and viewed.

He also showed how the swipe and transparency tools could be used with newly-flown imagery in the form of local raster files draped on top of the existing aerial basemaps to understand more about damaged areas.

Finally, he authored a presentation for a security briefing concerning a suspicious vehicle found near an airport, and used GIS drive time analysis results to view where the vehicle may travel.