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Emergency Response Information System (ERIS)
With the District’s dense population and close proximity to New York City, an important component of the Municipal Assistance Program (MAP) is focused on emergency management. The NJMC developed the Emergency Response Information System (ERIS), which is a series of applications that emergency officials and first responders utilize to manage, plan, and respond to emergencies. ERIS contains various critical datasets such as building footprints, parcels, fire hydrants, and aerial photographs. One key piece of information that is integrated into ERIS is Right-To-Know information, which is linked to the building foot prints. When an emergency responder clicks on a building they will get a list of all the hazardous chemicals stored in that particular facility as well as the location of the chemical. They can also access a digital version of the Emergency Response Guidebook, which details potential hazards, public safety information and emergency response information for a specific chemical. The compilation and visual representation of this information has had a profound impact on the way District municipalities plan for and respond to emergencies. There are currently three applications available under the Emergency Response Information System (ERIS): Standalone-ERIS, Online-ERIS, and GE-ERIS.
Standalone-ERIS
 The Standalone-ERIS is a custom application that was developed using ESRI’s ArcReader Control. The Standalone-ERIS application is self contained in a laptop computer, which is independent of the internet. This is beneficial because if there is an emergency that affects wireless communication, the data will still be accessible. The laptop(s) must be updated periodically to reflect changes in the data.
Online-ERIS
The Online-ERIS is a custom ArcIMS application that functions similarly to the Standalone-ERIS application. The benefits of the ArcIMS application include more rapid updates and it is accessible to any computer with internet access.
 GE-ERISThe latest application available is GE-ERIS. This application integrates spatial and tabular information from our enterprise GIS into Google Earth. We extracted all critical information from our enterprise geodatabase, packaged the data with symbology and labeling, and serve it out to Google Earth clients. Fire officials, police officers, fire departments, and other emergency responders (in certain towns) have access to the data via wireless technologies. The data resides on servers at the NJMC which allows for continual updates and enhancements to the system. Google Earth was chosen to visually represent the information for many reasons including speed, availability, user-friendliness, recognizable interface, and cost-effectiveness.
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