Mapping for emergencies - not produced by Ordnance Survey

In an emergency

Please call 08456 05 05 05 and quote Mapping for emergencies.

Flooded street

Mapping for Emergencies is a free service provided to the emergency services whenever there is a threat to or loss of life. Paper mapping or geographic information can be supplied to help them respond to a major or civil emergency.

Our Central Control Team Leaders, on call at all times, work with the emergency services or other customers to provide data or other services as required.

Here are some examples of the types of incidents we have supported in the past:

major fire, flood or explosion;
terrorist activity;
major road/rail/air accident;
outbreaks of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth, swine fever and bird fu;
outbreaks of human diseases; and
police-coordinated searches for missing people.

Our Incident Managers will also consider any other situations of national interest that may warrant implementation of the procedures.

Should an incident take place that might require mapping, please call 08456 05 05 05.

Recent emergencies

Geographic information from Ordnance Survey supported supporting the emergency response to the severe flooding that affected large parts of central and southern England in July 2007.

Our Mapping for Emergencies team delivered a variety of digital data free of charge to local authority staff, Avon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and Wessex Water, working as a contractor for Severn Trent Water^®.

In one instance, the data – delivered within three hours of the initial request – was used to help map the locations of nearly 1 000 freshwater bowsers being distributed across the Severn region by a fleet of tanker drivers. Pinpointing and sharing the temporary positions of the bowsers was crucial for delivering refills and managing transport logistics.

Our mapping provided the basis for overlays of aerial images and road traffic data as different agencies and incident response teams visualise the extent of current and potential flooding and gauge optimal rescue routes. One of the key scenarios concerned evacuation planning around the Castle Meads power station in Gloucester.

We sent information including:

street-level mapping;
1: 50 000 Scale Colour Raster mapping;
Land-Form PROFILE ^® Plus height data;
Points of Interest data; and
Topography and Imagery Layers of OS MasterMap^®.

Paper mapping was also supplied – around 150 OS Landranger Maps and weatherproof OS Explorer Maps were despatched to staff at Gloucestershire County Council within an hour of their request.

We supported emergency planners managing the evacuation of hundreds of people from homes at risk of flooding in South Yorkshire. Help was needed so that planners could gauge the potential extent of flooding around the Ulley dam near Rotherham. We used spatial address and digital height data to identify properties within specific height bands, offering the planners a sound basis for determining risk and priorities. Address data and mapping were supplied direct to the planners, building a useful context for action.

The scheme also responded to other high-profile events, providing mapping that enabling planners to manage access arrangements following the Napoli shipwreck on the Dorset coast in early 2007.