Evacuation route planning tool
First Claim
1. A method for determining evacuation routes for an emergency situation using a geographical information systems (GIS) database that represents a geographical area, wherein the GIS database includes at least one node representing at least one geographical location within the geographic area and at least one arc representing at least one street within the geographic area, comprising:
- determining an evacuation area within the geographic area, the evacuation area containing at least one node;
determining a safe area within the geographic area, the safe area containing at least one node;
dynamically determining at least one evacuation route between the evacuation area and the safe area, the evacuation route containing at least one arc, wherein the evacuation route is determined by;
maximizing a traffic flow between the evacuation area and the safe area; and
minimizing a cost between the evacuation area and the safe area.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A GIS-based system that determines evacuation routes for specific areas requiring evacuation. Evacuation and safe areas are determined, and evacuation routes plotted, based on emergency-specific information as well as road flow and estimated time of travel for each section of road between the evacuation area and safe area. Routes, evacuation areas, and safe areas are dynamically calculated and recalculated based on additional data, either real-time, historical, or other data added to the system, to compute optimal initial routes and redirect evacuees if changes in the emergency situation occur.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method for determining evacuation routes for an emergency situation using a geographical information systems (GIS) database that represents a geographical area, wherein the GIS database includes at least one node representing at least one geographical location within the geographic area and at least one arc representing at least one street within the geographic area, comprising:
-
determining an evacuation area within the geographic area, the evacuation area containing at least one node; determining a safe area within the geographic area, the safe area containing at least one node; dynamically determining at least one evacuation route between the evacuation area and the safe area, the evacuation route containing at least one arc, wherein the evacuation route is determined by; maximizing a traffic flow between the evacuation area and the safe area; and minimizing a cost between the evacuation area and the safe area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An apparatus for determining evacuation routes for an emergency situation using a geographical information systems (GIS) database that represents a geographical area, wherein the GIS database includes at least one node representing at least one geographical location within the geographic area and at least one arc representing at least one street within the geographic area, comprising:
-
a computer system having a memory and a data storage device coupled thereto; one or more programs, performed by the computer, for determining an evacuation area within the geographic area, the evacuation area containing at least one node; determining a safe area within the geographic area, the safe area containing at least one node; dynamically determining at least one evacuation route between the evacuation area and the safe area, the evacuation route containing at least one arc, wherein the evacuation route is determined by; maximizing a traffic flow between the evacuation area and the safe area; and minimizing a cost between the evacuation area and the safe area. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for determining evacuation routes for an emergency situation using a geographical information systems (GIS) database that represents a geographical area, wherein the GIS database includes at least one node representing at least one geographical location within the geographic area and at least one arc representing at least one street within the geographic area, the method comprising:
-
determining an evacuation area within the geographic area, the evacuation area containing at least one node; determining a safe area within the geographic area, the safe area containing at least one node; dynamically determining at least one evacuation route between the evacuation area and the safe area, the evacuation route containing at least one arc, wherein the evacuation route is determined by; maximizing a traffic flow between the evacuation area and the safe area; and minimizing a cost between the evacuation area and the safe area. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification