Geospatial Intelligence Center Provides Before and After Views of Damaged Properties from Hurricane Florence

Images Available to Emergency Personnel, Insurers and the Public

DES PLAINES, Ill., Sept. 19, 2018 — As Hurricane Florence slowly moved inland, the Geospatial Intelligence Center (GIC) began flying planes over the Carolinas on Monday, taking ultra-high resolution images of the damage and flooding. The resulting imagery, incorporated into Esri’s ArcGIS cloud-based mapping platform, can be viewed by citizens and insurers alike at this website — GIC Hurricane Florence.

By typing in an address, the aerials of the property will appear with a slider that moves to show the before and after views. A fleet of a dozen planes, each equipped with a $1.5 million UltraCam sensor from Vexcel, will be flying in full force this week, documenting the damage to provide insurers with vital information that will help them respond and pay claims faster to help victims get on the road to recovery. The imagery will also be provided at no charge to emergency personnel, first responders and law enforcement to assist in their response to the damage.

The Geospatial Intelligence Center has previously mapped the areas hardest hit by previous hurricanes and disasters and those views are also available. This effort is part of the massive data collection and processing system spearheaded by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), whose member companies write almost 80 percent of all property/casualty insurance and over 94 percent of all auto insurance in the country. 

The GIC’s service is available as a result of NICB’s partnership with several public and private organizations, including Vexcel Imaging, the premier aerial imaging company worldwide; Esri, the global leader in location intelligence; and the Federal Geographic Data Committee, whose GeoPlatform is managed by the U.S. Department of Interior and provides hosting and discovery services for national geospatial data assets. Esri makes the service available to any organization who needs it, free of charge, through its Esri Disaster Response Program. 

On a regular basis, the GIC is in the process of collecting high-resolutions “before” benchmark imagery on the ground and in the air in some 100 markets.  Through a network of aviation companies, the GIC is prepared to reach any disaster area in the U.S. within two hours and can begin imagery collection as soon as it is safe to fly and skies have cleared.

About the National Insurance Crime Bureau: Headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., the NICB is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through data analytics, investigations, training, legislative advocacy and public awareness. The NICB is supported by more than 1,100 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. NICB member companies wrote over $436 billion in insurance premiums in 2016, or more than 79 percent of the nation's property/casualty insurance. That includes more than 94 percent ($202 billion) of the nation's personal auto insurance. To learn more visit www.nicb.org.

About Vexcel Imaging: Based in Centennial, CO, Vexcel Imaging Inc. is a leading provider of geospatial data and services and mapping products. The Vexcel Data Program powers the GIC, providing high-resolution vertical and oblique aerial data along with derivative data products that include high-density point clouds, digital surface and terrain models, orthomosaics, and 3D TINS. It’s portfolio of sensor systems consists of the industry-leading line of UltraCam digital aerial and terrestrial camera systems widely adopted by aerial mapping firms worldwide and underpinning the Vexcel Data Program and GIC. The portfolio includes a range of imaging systems including photogrammetric vertical camera systems, combined nadir and oblique image capture systems, and high-altitude wide-area mapping systems. For terrestrial collection, the car-based mobile mapping system UltraCam Mustang captures a street-level perspective, and the UltraCam Panther collects high-resolution imagery, video and LiDAR via a portable 3D reality mapping system. These systems, coupled with the UltraMap workflow software, offer geospatial data organizations and geospatial data users with highly accurate but cost-effect vertical, oblique and street level data.

About Esri: Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, offers the most powerful mapping and spatial analytics technology available. Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world's largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and location analytics to inform the most authoritative maps in the world. Visit us at esri.com. 

About the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC): The FGDC is an organized structure of Federal geospatial professionals and constituents that provide executive, managerial, and advisory direction and oversight for geospatial decisions and initiatives across the Federal government.  In accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16, the FGDC is chaired by the Secretary of the Interior with the Deputy Director for Management, OMB as Vice-Chair.  

SOURCE: National Insurance Crime Bureau