South Carolina “Gets Visual” with Digital Sandbox Risk Analytics
GIS Integration Creates New Ability to Assess Risk for Assets and Population Statewide
Challenge
As part of its Geographic Information System (GIS) strategy, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) identified the need to add critical value-added applications to the agency’s existing ESRI GIS framework. Risk Management was identified as a key focus area for this initiative. 
While its current modeling and mapping capability had served the organization well for many years, SLED leadership wanted a new way to look at risk that went beyond graphs and charts. Presenting risk information in a dynamic geospatial context would improve departmental risk awareness and help SLED build stakeholder participation in its Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) program. This high-profile initiative is facilitating and improving infrastructure protection programs that help secure and defend vital US interests. SLED’s goal was to upgrade their solution to deliver the best possible risk management capability.
Solution
SLED selected Digital Sandbox to deliver a new solution combining GIS capabilities with their Risk Management program, already supported by Digital Sandbox’s Risk Analysis Center (RAC) Site Profiler software. The result of this effort was the RAC GIS Connect Module. This module integrates SLED’s existing ESRI-based system with the Site Profiler analytic risk management software suite. The integration gave SLED analysts the ability to plot South Carolina’s critical infrastructure on a detailed state base map, filter and display infrastructure assets and sectors by risk and priority level, and visually highlight and look at the physical proximity of assets by jurisdiction.
More than 500 vital state infrastructure assets, from airports and shipyards to expressways and power facilities, have been cataloged in Site Profiler and plotted using the ESRI GIS Flex Viewer interface. SLED personnel can now see previously unavailable data layered dynamically with a navigable geospatial map. It is easy to determine what assets face the greatest risk and which counties within South Carolina have the highest threat likelihood from a wide range of hazards.
Results
A tremendous example of the power of “risk visualization,” the SLED solution demonstrates the advantage of making risk management technology more accessible and contextually relevant via geospatial mapping and imagery. Through the GIS interface SLED stakeholders can now integrate and display critical infrastructure/key resources (CIKR) data and analytics from Digital Sandbox’s Site Profiler with other vital information about threats, hazards, capabilities, and risks. The system integrates both cataloged and live updates of data from emergency service and law enforcement systems, weather tracking, South Carolina’s existing population statistics, and many more sources. Across departments, South Carolina’s homeland security, public safety, planning, and political stakeholders all have a dramatically improved picture of their state’s overall risk situation at any time.
By integrating the ESRI GIS and RAC Site Profiler technologies, Digital Sandbox has given SLED the power to easily layer all relevant risk management data, giving decision makers the most comprehensive and accessible risk assessment possible. This means the State can deploy protective resources more strategically and effectively, accelerate situation response in a risk-aware manner, and improve safety and security both for South Carolina’s assets and its residents.
