How Digital Mapping is Transforming School Emergency Response

By PASS Advisory Committee Chairman, Guy Grace

According to a March 2024 AP article, “School shootings prompt more states to fund digital maps for first responders,” the past few years have seen more than 20 states enacting or proposing digital school mapping measures to support responders — who are often entering buildings where they’ve never been. As a K-12 security practitioner in the early ‘90s, when police officers were first starting to use laptops in the field, I thought digital mapping would be an invaluable asset for aiding law enforcement and fire departments during emergencies. My initial focus was on improving their ability to handle burglaries and other routine incidents, not anticipating the scale of active shooter events that would later occur. 

While the district didn’t see a need for such a resource at the time, it became a personal passion project, and I digitized all 28 of our facilities with interactive floor plans of the building interiors and exterior grounds. Needless to say, everything changed dramatically on April 20, 1999, for my district and the nation when nearby Columbine High School was attacked.

Of the many tremendous lessons learned from that day was the inability to effectively obtain or share a map of the school, prompting an enormous effort to address critical infrastructure and the mapping of schools. The result was many electronic pre-incident planning systems to facilitate the access of information for emergency response.

The Littleton Fire Department designed a Pre-Incident Plan System (PIPS) digital tour program, which integrated planning data into HTML (website) format for FEMA Region 8 that was distributed to all its school districts in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and 29 tribal nations. Additionally, several jurisdictions, including Pierce County, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona, have successfully integrated technology into comprehensive pre-planning programs. As for the platform I was working on, this program became known as SEMPS (School Emergency Management Planning Software). In 2001, the SEMPS program was awarded the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) Pinnacle of Achievement Award, and the program was distributed to more than 5,000 school communities in 2003.

Fast Forward: Florida Invests in School Safety with Mapping Grant

In April 2023, the Florida Department of Education established its School Mapping Data Grant Program to provide funding for creating standardized emergency response maps for all public schools in the state, including charter schools. The bill is well written with in-place structures that make it easier for school districts to provide the necessary data. Unlike the 1990s through 2020, when school districts would have struggled with such an endeavor, Florida has created a viable system to facilitate efficient emergency responses. Under House Bill 301, each school district, in conjunction with local law enforcement and public safety agencies, may apply for funds to satisfy some or all of the bill’s requirements, including procuring a vendor to help extrapolate its  data. 

With almost a lifetime interest and experience in this subject, I am impressed with the capabilities of the security providers on the Florida Department of Education’s Alyssa’s Alert Approved Vendor List, which currently includes one digital mapping solution. This particular list is not part of the Mapping Grant Program, but when considering a new vendor, I highly recommend starting at the websites of states proposing digital school mapping measures to ask their authorized providers for competitive bids and pilot programs (try before you buy).

Digital Mapping Benefits Day-To-Day Operations

Modern access control and video management platforms now seamlessly integrate digital mapping. Arguably, the most practical application of this technology in schools is the unification of digital mapping with other life safety systems for daily operations. State-of-the-art systems now employ cameras that detect movement and body heat, can zoom in on license plates from nearly a mile away, and offer a complete 360-degree view of school grounds. “Digital floor plans can be a tremendous asset for responders when participating in physical security assessments on school campuses,” says Centegix Vice President of Public Safety & Government Affairs Sylvia Ifft. “While walking the site, they can simultaneously have a bird’s-eye view of the security components currently in place, making it easier to identify gaps and overlap in coverage. Furthermore, having these detailed maps during the security assessment walk-through allows responders to orient themselves with all the features and resources at the school during blue skies.” 

Other applications include:

• Proactive Security Teams: Dedicated, centralized security teams that can conduct regular drills, training sessions, and daily welfare checks on students and staff
• Comprehensive Surveillance: Widespread camera and audio coverage accessible to security and law enforcement personnel at all times
• Anonymous Reporting System: Confidential reporting channels that can deter bullying, vandalism, suicide, and substance abuse
• Advanced Emergency Alert System: Specialized alarm systems that provide clear lockdown instructions that can be activated by any staff member or student in critical situations

At PASS, we refer to these enhanced technologies that further the unification of security and safety components, and related school district systems, as Unified Security and Life Safety Systems.  Properly implemented, a unified system eases integration of new components and allows a district to continue to evolve and expand. It is important for a school district to work with its  integrator to ensure facility infrastructure can support any new technology as part of a unified system.

Integrating Digital Mapping With Video Surveillance

While video surveillance and digital mapping serve distinct purposes, they can be integrated to create a more comprehensive school safety system. For example, video footage can be linked to specific locations on a digital map, aiding in real-time incident response.

A good example from the current PASS Guidelines addressed the incorporation of Video Surveillance into Emergency Response Plans. Use of video surveillance to provide remote situational awareness during incidents should be incorporated into emergency response plans. Valuable information can be relayed to law enforcement responders who are en route to or, in the case of EMS, waiting to enter a facility. Law enforcement may use video surveillance to determine the threat level of a given area.

For example, under the NFPA 3000 Standard for responding to active shooter events, control zones are established to define the threat level of an area, as well as the personnel or competencies needed to operate there. Information from the video surveillance system may provide key information necessary for making these determinations, which could mean the difference between EMS entering an area or not. The plan should also document who is responsible for operating the video surveillance system during an emergency and how they will communicate with law enforcement. In many cases, law enforcement may have access to the video directly or may request access to the video surveillance onsite. An interactive digital floor plan will include door status, duress, and other life safety components.

Digital Floor Plans in Risk Assessment

I would recommend using digital floorplans when doing any type of inventory of your school’s life safety components: doors, locks, card readers, windows, roof hatches, fire extinguishers, AED, chemicals, HVAC, fire systems, mass notification equipment, etc. — anything and everything that will or may be used in an emergency situation.

As discussed, there are many recommended service providers and integrators that will map all the parts of your access control systems and life safety systems. This can not only  help with inventory, but also keep your systems up and running. 

PASS will update the guidelines in the near future to include more information on digital mapping.

Resources: 

Lessons Learned from the Shootings at Columbine High School, 2003

Report of Governor Bill Owens’ Columbine Review Commission, 2001

Popular Mechanics, What Littleton Learned, 2018

US Department of Justice, Incident Action Planning Process “The Planning P,” 2018

FEMA ICS Resource Center

About PASS

The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) bringing together expertise from the education, public safety, and industry communities to develop and support a coordinated approach to making effective and appropriate decisions with respect to safety and security investments. You can download the complete PASS Guidelines here, or check out our PASS Safety and Security Checklist for quick tips on how to get started.  These resources—as well as white papers on various topics including barricade devices, lockdown drills, and more—are available at no cost.