The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) conducted three progressively more complex urban field studies aimed at characterizing the airflow and stability around a small cluster of urban buildings. As part of the final Study, three Disaster Response Drills were executed. Observing the emergency responders within the thickly instrumented urban field site, the need for a tool to link these health and safety professionals with relevant atmospheric-environment data came into focus. A survey of existing technologies offered potential solutions. However, the ARL saw a niche for a timely, relevant, user-friendly tool that had not yet been filled, and consequently, has been developing an interactive information system to satisfy this need.

This paper will briefly describe the urban field study prompting the system development, an example of field observations impacting the system design, how the resulting emergency management Decision Aid strengthens the link between health/safety professionals and their environment, and finally, some recent feedback regarding the system, given by Emergency First Responders (health and safety professionals) during the operational testing phase of the prototype system.