About Bushfire Ready Map

Bushfire Ready Map enables a standardised assessment of bushfire hazard and risk management for homes. The information can be displayed by tap on a home in Google Earth. Bushfire Ready Map assessments are intended to be conducted by Bushfire Brigade Officers and the information is to be held confidentially by the relevant Brigade to assist service provision during a bushfire.

The vital information displayed using the Bushfire Ready Map system assists Brigades contact occupants of homes during bushfire alert and in deployment of resources for fire fighting and evacuation. The assessment conducted using Bushfire Ready Map during visits by Brigade Officers to homes is also an effective awareness raising process for home occupants and the community. Bushfire Ready Map has been developed by CreativityCorp and has been field tested by the Jardee Bushfire Brigade in Western Australia. The screen shots shown below are for iPhones and iPad, Android smartphones and tablets can also run Bushfire Ready Map. see Support below.

Images from iPhone showing part of assessment, GPS marker on farmhouse and information display in Google Earth.

The Bushfire Ready Map system is pitched towards farmhouses and homes on large blocks in rural and outer urban subdivisions. An Internet connection is not required to conduct assessments at homes, thus the assessments can be conducted in remote areas. An Internet connection is normally required to display the information in Google Earth either at a fire incident control room or in the field. However, Google Earth imagery sufficient to cover an area of responsibility of a local Bushfire Brigade can be downloaded before loss of Internet connectivity for subsequent use  in the field.

Download Bushfire Ready Map project and Track Assets project, open in Mobile Data Studio software. 

Bushfire Ready Map provides guidance for the assessment process by tap to the assessment point caption. Bushfire Ready Map has been developed using criteria for determining bushfire Hazard Exposure and Building Protection Zone which apply in Western Australia. Similar criteria are used elsewhere in Australia, and the app guidance can be amended for local criteria. After conducting assessments of homes using Bushfire Ready Map, connection is made via the mobile phone network or WiFi to Mobile Data Studio for processing of data to a KML file which can be opened in Google Earth. A tap to the GPS marker on homes displays the vital information. The KML file can be opened in Google Earth on a smartphone, tablet, notebook and desktop computer. The data can also be automatically processed to Excel and HTML in Mobile Data Studio and downloaded for use by the relevant Brigade.

Hazard and Risk Assessment

Please note that with the iPad for independent GPS functions, the iPad must be 3G capable. The Bushfire Ready Map app can be installed to five mobile devices to conduct assessments for a local Brigade area and the data then be processed in Mobile Data Studio during a 30 day Trial period. No costs are required to conduct assessments and process data for Bushfire Ready Map.

The Bushfire Ready Map App has one page for assessment listed under 'Projects' and another page for 'Settings', which will be addressed in the 'Process Data' section below. When the Bushfire Ready Map project is open a simple tap to a data point caption will show 'Guidance' for the point. Following Guidance is important for consistency of assessments. Please download a copy of full Bushfire Ready Map Guidance. Each completed assessment for a home is called a Session, and these accumulate in the Session Window before processing of data. An Internet connection is not required to conduct the Bushfire Ready Map assessment at farmhouses and other homes.

Process Bushfire Ready Map Data

The assessment data collected in the Bushfire Ready Map project on an iPhone or Android smartphone is sent via the mobile phone network or WiFi to Mobile Data Studio software where it is processed into a KML file that can be opened in Google Earth. A 30 day free Trial is provided for Mobile Data Studio software to enable Bushfire Brigades to process Bushfire Ready Map assessments for their Brigade area. It is not necessary to immediately download Trial Mobile Data Studio software on installation of the Bushfire Ready Map app to iPhone or iPad. The 30 day Trial software can be used to process data from up to five mobile devices when the assessments of homes have been completed. The Bushfire Ready Map project in Mobile Data Studio is found on a desktop or laptop PC in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mobile Data Studio\Examples

The task of processing Bushfire Ready Map assessment data can be assigned to a member or associate of the Bushfire Brigade who is confident with a Windows laptop or desktop computer guided by the Mobile Data Studio Skills tutorial. There are two steps to process the data from the Bushfire Ready Map app: (1) Sending assessment sessions from mobile devices to Mobile Data Studio on a Windows laptop or desktop PC, via either the mobile phone network or WiFi. Here, the laptop/desktop computer operator will tell the assessors in the Brigade what Settings should be entered in the app on the smartphone or tablet to send the sessions. (2) Processing of the Bushfire Ready Map assessment sessions from the Database in Mobile Data Studio to a KML file which can be opened in Google Earth.

Mobile Data Studio Database, shown below, collects sessions from the Bushfire Ready Map assessments, from where the sessions are processed to a KML file to open in Google Earth. Note the sessions can also be processed to an Excel spreadsheet for a convenient summary for the local Brigade.

Below are shown typical Options in Mobile Data Studio for exporting Bushfire Ready Map assesment sessions to a KML file. Also shown is a typical outcome for display of the assessment data in Google Earth on a laptop or desktop PC, smartphone or tablet.

Display Bushfire Ready Map in Google Earth

The KML data processing system described above can by selection of which data to show on pins create various map details in the same overview in Google Earth. For example an overview of 'Occupant Response Preference', plus 'Extreme Fire Hazard', plus  'Home Street Address'. Three KML files would be saved and all three opened in Google Earth; a tap to the GPS pin would also show full data for each pin. Below is shown 'Response Preference' to either 'Go' early, or 'Stay' and actively defend.

Track Assets

Accompanying the Bushfire Ready Map project is a Track Assets project that can be useful for managment and tracking of assets relevant to firefighting. For example, locations and service status of hydrants, condition of water points in forests, equipment out of service left in the field for recovery later; and for tasks such as identifying and locating tree branches near power lines. The example below demonstrates location of a fire hose and hose attachment points around a farmhouse. An important feature of Track Assets is that it incorporates a camera image which can be displayed in Google Earth using a KMZ file which is generated in the same way as processing sessions to KML files described above.

Track firefighting assets using GPS plus images for KMZ file. Information box above is shown in Google Earth by tap on the yellow GPS and information pins shown in the farmhouse example below. Open KMZ files in Google Earth on Windows or Mac desktop computer. Images in KMZ do not show in Apple iOS or Android.

The Track Assets project in Mobile Data Studio is found on a desktop or laptop PC in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mobile Data Studio\Examples The Track Assets project is opened in Mobile Data Studio and can be modified to suit the Brigade's requirements. Feel free to develop more projects for your Bushfire Brigade. There is no limit to creativity with Mobile Data Studio.

Support