WO2009105603A1 - System for providing building and facility information for emergency response and crisis management - Google Patents

Abstract

A system providing digital, interactive mappings of the interiors of buildings and facilities, such as large commercial and governmental buildings via a secure network is provided. Pertinent areas of these facilities are documented for retrievable in real time by police, fire and other emergency personnel, enabling first responders to pinpoint the exact location of the emergency at hand. 360° panoramic photographs are taken of the entire facility, and are matched to their exact locations through a digital interior map. Critical areas, such as the location of electrical control panels, hydrants, fire escapes, roof access, water valves, etc., are highlighted. Panoramic images or live video feeds, layout / floor plan information, larger area views, and symbols/icons are simultaneously displayed in four quadrants of a video display, accessible via a web browser.

Description

SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING BUILDING AND FACILITY INFORMATION FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.

61/030,685, filed February 22, 2008, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates, in general, to crisis management and emergency response and, in particular, to a system providing digital, interactive mappings of the interiors of buildings and facilities, such as large commercial and governmental buildings via a secure network.

2. General Background of the Invention When a crisis develops at a building or facility, responders often lack critical information regarding the building or facility, such as ready access to layout and floor plan information, including the location of roof access points, utilities, power and alarm panels, as well as visual indications of the contents of rooms, closets, and other regions of the facility. The present invention address this lack of critical information by providing fire department, ambulance, police, and SWAT teams with digital representations of the interiors of buildings and facilities, permitting virtual navigation of the interiors of such buildings and facilities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides digital, interactive mappings of the interiors of buildings and facilities, such as large commercial and governmental buildings. Pertinent areas of these facilities are documented for access and use by police, fire and other emergency personnel, enabling first responders to pinpoint the exact location of the emergency at hand.

First, 360° panoramic photographs are taken of the entire facility, and are matched to their exact locations through a digital interior map. Critical areas, such as the location of electrical control panels, hydrants, fire escapes, roof access, water valves, etc., are highlighted. All of this data is housed on secure servers, and is accessible via the internet upon password authentication.

In particular, all of this information is accessed and presented to the user via an internet browser interface. Four related viewing areas are simultaneously presented, including 1) a high-level map of the facility; 2) a more detailed map of a portion of the facility surrounding the currently selected location, including dot-shaped links to panoramic photographed areas; 3) a panoramic photograph of the current location, about which the user may pan and zoom; and 4) a legend area showing icons associated with highlighted critical areas (electrical panels, pipes, alarms, etc.). A user may navigate through the map in six ways, including 1) room selection; 2) utility or roof access selection; 3) area selection; 4) floor selection; 5) point-and-click navigation of a dot- shaped link in the detailed map portion; and 6) clicking on a numbered region in the high- level map. Aerial views of the exterior facility may also be referenced. Whenever such navigation occurs, there related viewing areas are automatically and simultaneously updated, by reference to pre-stored mapping and image data in an associated database, to reflect the newly selected location. The present invention accordingly provides the user with an intuitive, easy to use interface, enabling responders, including those having little or no prior training in the system and little if any familiarity with a given associated building or facility, to easily perform virtual navigation within the facility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 of the drawings is a block diagram of certain hardware components of the present invention;

Fig. 2 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user login portion of the user interface component of the present invention;

Fig. 3 of the drawings is a screen capture of the facility selection portion of the user interface component of the present invention;

Fig. 4 of the drawings is a block diagram of the primary display fields of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 5 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, direct navigation to a specific enumerated room of a building;

Fig. 6 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, the result of navigation to a specific enumerated room of a building;

Fig. 7 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, navigation to a specific enumerated utility or roof access portion of a building;

Fig. 8 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the result of navigation to a specific enumerated utility or roof access portion of a building; Fig. 9 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, navigation to a specific enumerated general area of a building;

Fig. 10 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the result of navigation to a specific enumerated general area of a building;

Fig. 11 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, navigation to a specific enumerated floor of a building; Fig. 12 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the result of navigation to a specific enumerated floor of a building;

Fig. 13 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, navigation to a specific location identified by predetermined indicia;

Fig. 14 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the result of navigation to a specific location identified by predetermined indicia;

Fig. 15 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, a request for general information concerning a building or facility; Fig. 16 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the presentation of general information concerning a building or facility;

Fig. 17 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, a request for satellite imagery of a building or facility;

Fig. 18 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the presentation of satellite imagery of a building or facility; Fig. 19 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, the presentation of an image of a region of a building at a standard zoom level;

Fig. 20 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular the presentation of an image of a region at an enhanced zoom level;

Fig. 21 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of a first embodiment of the present invention and showing, in particular, a live video feed of a user selected portion of a building or facility;

Fig. 22 of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the Areas table of the database of a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 23 of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the Locations table of the database of a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 24 of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the Nodes table of the database of a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figs. 25 A and 25B of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the Schools table of the database of a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 26 of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the Descriptions table of the database of a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 27 of the drawings is a depiction of the design of the States table of a first embodiment of the database of the present invention;

Fig. 28 of the drawings is a screen capture of the user interface component of another embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 29 of the drawings is an enlarged view of a first portion of the screen capture of Fig. 28;

Fig. 30 of the drawings is an enlarged view of a second portion of the screen capture of Fig. 28; Fig. 31 of the drawings is an enlarged view of a third portion of the screen capture of Fig. 28; and

Fig. 32 of the drawings is an enlarged view of a fourth portion of the screen capture of Fig. 28.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The hardware associated with the present invention is shown in Fig. 1 as comprising web server 10 (or a web farm, or server cluster, consisting of a plurality of web servers 10), database server 11, and local terminal 12, preferably in the form of a desktop personal computer. Database server 11 may alternatively be the same server as web server 10. A local area network 13 interconnects the web servers, database server, and local terminal. Router 14 interconnects local area network 13 with global computer network 15, such as the Internet. Remote wired terminal 16, preferably in the form of desktop personal computer, is likewise coupled to the Internet, enabling this terminal to access web pages served by web server 10.

HA PIX firewalls, HA load balancers, and Virtual Private Network (VPN) servers (not shown) are employed in conjunction with the web server and database server at a primary facility. Moreover, a redundant mirror (site backup) facility is preferably provided, where fallback servers in a separate location provide backup capabilities. Terrestrial antennas 17 and/or communications satellites 18 provide wireless access to the Internet and, in turn, to web pages served by web server 10. In particular, Wireless remote terminals 19, preferably in the form of laptop, tablet or handheld personal computers, or other devices capable of web browsing, such as "smart phones", use wireless Internet connections to request web pages from web server 10. Web server 10 provides a database driven website by which the present invention provides digital, interactive mappings of the interiors of buildings and facilities, such as large commercial and governmental buildings. In a preferred embodiment, the application running on web server 10 is written primarily in PHP Hypertext Preprocessor, an interpretive, HTML centric, server side scripting language. Other scripting languages, programming languages, or web application platforms and frameworks may alternatively be used.

In conjunction with PHP code running on web server 10, database server 11 stores a relational database, in the form of a plurality of data tables and an associated set of queries, containing all of the pertinent data regarding all of the buildings and facilities for which emergency response management information may be retrieved. In a preferred embodiment, database server 11 employs structured query language database software, such as MySQL, in order to provide responses to queries issued (in the form of program- generated queries) or initiated (in the form of pre-stored queries) by the web application script. Microsoft SQL Server, or other database software, may alternatively be used. The specific MySQL database design for the tables employed in an embodiment of the present invention are shown in Figs. 22 through 27

The initial login page served by web server 10 is shown in Fig. 2. This web page, as well as all others served by the present invention, preferably employ Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, so as to provide secure, encrypted back and forth transmission of all data. As shown in Fig. 2, a potential user of the present invention is prompted to enter a username and password. The potential user then clicks the Login button. In response, the web application will authenticate the username/password combination, and determine if access should be granted. If the username is not recognized, or the password is invalid, this login page will again be presented to the user, with an indication of invalid data entry. Once the user is authenticated, the site selection page shown in Fig. 3 is presented. On this page, a drop-down list box is presented, containing a list of all facilities for which the present user has been granted access. Once a user selects a particular item in the list by clicking on the associated address or other identifier (such as school or building name). Transition is then taken to the primary facility display page, In a first embodiment of the present invention, the regions of the primary facility display page are summarized in Fig. 4.

As shown in Fig 4, primary facility display page 20 comprises banner region 21, locator boxes 22, 23 and 24, and quadrants 25, 26, 27 and 28. Banner region 21 permits application service provider identifiers, trademarks, and other general information to be displayed. Immediately below, locator box 22 provides the physical address of the currently selected facility, as well as a hypertext link to general information about the facility, and another hypertext link to satellite or other map data showing the position of the current facility. Locator box 23 displays, in textual form, a description of the currently selected location, as indicated and highlighted by a flashing red dot within quadrant 26. Locator box 24 displays an identification of the current region (i.e., a region encompassing the currently selected location/area), which is depicted graphically in quadrant 27.

Quadrant 25 shows, at the user's selection either a 360° panoramic photograph, or a live video feed (if available), of the area identified in locator box 23, and as selected by the user and highlighted by a flashing red dot in the digital graphic layout/plan depicted in quadrant 26. As indicated above, Quadrant 27 depicts, in digital graphic layout/plan form, the larger area encompassing the currently selected region, as well as other, adjoining regions for to enhance situational awareness of the user. Quadrant 28 displays a legend of symbols, or icons, denoting pertinent items located within the present building or facility, such as the following:

I . security camera location; 2. fire hydrant location;

3. exit/entryway location;

4. fire pump location;

5. fireman's telephone location;

6. security telephone location; 7. duress station location;

8. electrical panel location;

9. gas valve and pipe location;

10. water valve and pipe location;

I 1. alarm panel locations, including central alarm panel; 12. roof access location;

13. chemical storage location;

14. fire extinguisher location;

15. handicap accessible safety area location;

16. manual fire alarm pull station location; 17. fire department hose connection location;

18. public address system location; and

19. defibrillator and/or first aid supply location.

These symbols or icons are preferably chosen to be consistent with local fire codes. Matching symbols or icons are displayed in appropriate locations on the area display of quadrant 26, as well as the region display of quadrant 27, as needed to convey the locations of all such pertinent information within the present building or facility. For fire department personnel, the location of central alarm panels are often of significant importance, as they are frequently accessed, particularly in response to false fire alarm calls. Accordingly, central alarm panel entries within legends, drop down lists, and the maps of quadrants 26 and 27 may optionally be highlighted.

Inasmuch as responders are frequently required to locate and access central alarm panels, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides for receipt of an electronic indication from the central alarm panels of a monitored facility, identifying the particular panel or panels that have been activated. In response, the icons or symbols corresponding to such active panels will flash or otherwise be highlighted in the display of quadrants 26 and 27, offering responders immediate visual indications of precisely where in the facility the alarm has been activated. In operation, an activated alarm communicates with the central alarm panel of the building, and the central alarm panel in return further communicates with an input data port or connection of the web server of the present invention, causing the web application to display a flashing icon matching the exact location of where the alarm has been triggered.

Moreover, in one embodiment of the present invention, the user may selectively enable or disable specific symbols or icons, by clicking on their representation within the legend of quadrant 28. This, in turn, will result in the selective display, or removal from display, respectively, of the corresponding icons or symbols in quadrants 26 and 27. This feature permits the user to reduce display clutter, as desired, and permits the location of more pertinent items within the building or facility to be more easily located. As shown, for example, in Fig. 5, hallways of the building or facility are shown highlighted in green in the floor plan / layout depicted in quadrant 26. This facilitates the responders' ability to visualize paths and routes to be taken during the response, including the determination of optimal routes of ingress and egress. Moreover, in an embodiment of the present invention, screen print functionality is provided, including the option to print the visual information provided for an individual quadrant of the overall video display. The availability of hard copies of a given display, or quadrant of a display, facilitates the planning activities of the emergency and crisis management responders employing the present invention. A screen capture of primary facility display page 20 in a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 5, facility display page 20 includes drop-down list box 29 proximate quadrant 25. This list box permits direct, immediate visual navigation to any predetermined room or other specific, individual position within the building or facility being monitored. As shown in Fig. 6, user selection of a particular room causes display page 20 to be updated to reflect the chosen navigation, including the display of text describing the selected room in locator box 23, the display of text identifying the current area in locator box 24, the selected room's panoramic image to be displayed in quadrant 25, the region containing the selected room, with the selected room's position therein highlighted by a flashing red dot, to be displayed in quadrant 26, and the larger area encompassing the current room and region, to be displayed in quadrant 27. Moreover, as shown, for example, in Fig. 6, quadrant 26 includes automatically update indicia, such as "Area 08", indicating the currently selected and displayed area, and quadrant 27 includes automatically updated indicia, such as "Level 1", indicating the currently selected floor or level being displayed.

Alternatively, an individual room may be navigated to by clicking on a gray dot

(i.e., a symbol or icon employed to depict a room or other area available for navigation) depicted in the layout or floor plan of quadrant 26, preceded, if necessary, by selecting the desired larger numbered area by clicking on a numbered area depicted in quadrant 27.

As shown in Fig. 5, for example, quadrant 27 shows, in conjunction with fire hydrant exterior locations, the distance of the exterior fire hydrant from the building or facility, facilitating fire response planning, e.g., the positioning of fire trucks and other equipment, determining the length and number of fire hoses required, and related considerations. Other exterior symbols or icons depicted in quadrant 27 likewise preferably have both location and distance identification associated therewith.

As shown in Fig. 7, facility display page 20 includes drop-down list box 30 proximate quadrant 26. This list box permits direct, immediate visual navigation to the position of any predetermined utility (such as an electrical panel or water valve) or specific roof access location within the building or facility being monitored. As shown in Fig. 8, user selection of a particular utility causes display page 20 to be updated to reflect the chosen navigation, including the display of text describing the selected utility or roof access position in locator box 23, the display of text identifying the current area in locator box 24, the selected utility's panoramic image to be displayed in quadrant 25, the region containing the selected utility, with the selected utility's position therein highlighted by a flashing red dot, to be displayed in quadrant 26, and the larger area encompassing the current utility and region, to be displayed in quadrant 27. Alternatively, an individual utility or roof access location may be navigated to by clicking on a gray dot (i.e., a symbol or icon employed to depict a utility, roof access location, or other area available for navigation) depicted in the layout or floor plan of quadrant 26, preceded, if necessary, by selecting the desired larger numbered area by clicking on a numbered area depicted in quadrant 27.

As shown in Fig. 9, facility display page 20 includes drop-down list box 31 proximate quadrant 27. This list box permits direct, immediate visual navigation to one of several enumerated general areas within the building or facility being monitored. As shown in Fig. 10, user selection of a particular general area causes display page 20 to be updated to reflect the chosen navigation (and, in particular, the navigation to and selection of an individual room proximate the geometric center of the selected general area), including the display of text describing the selected center room in locator box 23, the display of text identifying the current area in locator box 24, the selected center room's panoramic image to be displayed in quadrant 25, the region containing the selected room, with the selected room's position therein highlighted by a flashing red dot, to be displayed in quadrant 26, and the selected general area to be displayed in quadrant 27. Alternatively, a general area may be navigated to by clicking on the associated numbered area depicted graphically in the layout / floor plan of quadrant 27.

As shown in Fig. 11, facility display page 20 includes drop-down list box 32 proximate quadrant 28. This list box permits direct, immediate visual navigation to the position of any predetermined floor (for any multi-floor building or facility) within the building or facility being monitored. As shown in Fig. 12, user selection of a particular floor causes display page 20 to be updated to reflect the chosen navigation (and, in particular, the navigation to and selection of an individual room proximate the geometric center of the selected floor), including the display of text describing the selected center room in locator box 23, the display of text identifying the current area in locator box 24, the selected center room's panoramic image to be displayed in quadrant 25, the region containing the selected room, with the selected room's position therein highlighted by a flashing red dot, to be displayed in quadrant 26, and the selected general area to be displayed in quadrant 27.

One manner of user navigation from one room to another is shown in Figs. 13 and 14. As shown in Fig. 13, the current position is the "commons" room of general area 1, as shown by the flashing red dot of quadrant 26, the descriptive text of locator box 23, and the panoramic photograph of real time video feed of quadrant 25. Presume that the user then clicks on the gray dot towards the bottom of the library room of the layout / floor plan depicted in quadrant 26. As shown in Fig. 14, the selected dot is becomes highlighted in red, and the dot corresponding to the "commons" room returns to a gray color. Moreover, the selected location, named "Library 2" is displayed in locator box 23, and a panoramic photograph or live video feed of this location is shown in quadrant 25.

A request for, and the display of, general information concerning the current building or facility are shown in Figs. 15 and 16. As shown in Fig. 15, locator box 22 contains a hyperlink entitled "school information". Clicking on this hyperlink causes a separate browser window to be displayed, such as an overlaying window or a separate browser tabbed display, as shown in Fig. 16. This separate browser window presents general information concerning the current building and facility, such as, for example in the case of a school, its physical address, emergency contact information, exterior photograph, square footage, year constructed, and the number of students, faculty and staff, gas shutoff procedures, physical blueprints, hazard plans, water shutoff procedures, and electric utility shutoff procedures.

A request for, and the display of, the satellite map location information concerning the current building or facility are shown in Figs. 17 and 18. As shown in Fig. 17, locator box 22 contains a hyperlink entitled "satellite map location". Clicking on this hyperlink causes a separate browser window to be displayed, such as an overlaying window or a separate browser tabbed display, as shown in Fig. 18. This separate browser window presents a satellite image of the current building or facility. This satellite image may be pre-stored in a file on the applicant's web server, as metadata in the application's database, or the application may access an external service or source for the satellite image, such as Google Maps or Google Earth. Alternatively, Geographic Information

System (GIS) data may be provided, alternatively or in addition to the satellite imagery.

Additional features of the panoramic photograph display of quadrant 25 are shown in Figs. 19 and 20. In general, a user may pan any panoramic photograph displayed in quadrant 25 in the left, right, up, and down directions, by clicking and dragging the mouse on the image in any desired direction. Moreover, as shown in many of the preceding figures, the compass cardinal directions of North, South, East and West are superimposed on each panoramic image, to provide a visual indication of the general direction being viewed at any given time. Moreover, the general area display of quadrant 27 likewise includes a compass display. In one embodiment of the present invention, the compass display of quadrant 27 will rotate in real time to match to current compass direction displayed in the panoramic image of quadrant 25. This, in turn, will provide enhanced situational awareness to the user, by providing an indication of the currently viewed direction relative to an overall area or group of areas of the current building or facility. Moreover, in one embodiment of the present invention, a digital compass display is instead provided. In one embodiment of the present invention, the compass display and panning of the image in quadrant 25 is performed with a "vector display" in quadrant 26. In particular, the flashing red dot in quadrant 26, denoting the currently selected location, is enhanced to include a red arrow symbol originating from the flashing red dot. The head of the arrow corresponds to the compass direction currently being viewed in the panoramic photograph or live video feed of quadrant 25. As the panoramic photograph is panned by the user, or as the security camera of the live video feed is panned, a corresponding change is made to the direction of the arrow emanating from the flashing red position indicator. This provides the user with an overview in quadrant 26 of the current information being viewed in quadrant 27, enhancing the situational awareness of the user.

Fig 19 shows a panoramic photograph at normal zoom level. Moreover, as shown in Fig. 19, zoom-in button 35 (designated by a plus sign) and zoom-out button 36 (designated by a minus sign) are provided immediately below the panoramic image. Clicking a mouse (or other suitable pointing device) on zoom-in button 35 causes the displayed image, in its current panoramic orientation, to become enlarged, as shown in Fig. 20. Repeatedly clicking on zoom-in button 35 (or clicking and holding on this button) causes the image to be repeatedly enlarged in further increments, until a maximum zoom level is reached. Similarly, clicking a mouse on zoom-out button 36 causes the displayed image, in its current panoramic orientation, to become reduced in magnification. Repeatedly clicking on zoom-out button 36 (or clicking and holding on this button) causes the image to be repeatedly reduced in magnification in further increments, until a minimum zoom level, or "normal zoom", is reached. In one embodiment of the present invention, the displays of quadrants 26 and 27 likewise include their own dedicated zoom-in and zoom-out buttons to facilitate rapid resizing of the layout / floor plan (for quadrant 26) and general area depiction (for quadrant 27), respectively. Moreover, to enhance the user's view of a particular subset of displayed information, quadrant's 25, 26 and 27 each preferably include a "balloon feature", permitting a user to immediately expand the quadrant to fill the entire screen. This full screen display may then be exited at any time by the user, resuming to the standard, four quadrant display.

The display of live video feed data is shown in Fig. 21. Rooms or other positions having live video feed capability are denoted by a yellow, rather than a gray dot in quadrant 26. Clicking on any gray dot navigates to its associated position, and causes the associated live video feed to bee displayed within quadrant 25, as shown in Fig. 21. Existing security camera systems may be employed (i.e., "tapped into") to provide the live video feeds. Alternatively, dedicated video cameras may be installed specifically to support the live video capabilities of the present invention. The primary facility display page 20' for an alternative embodiment of the present invention is shown in Fig. 28 as comprising regions or quadrants 25', 26', 27' and 28'. As shown in Fig. 28, while regions of the display may be referred to as quadrants, these regions may differ in relative size, and their boundaries are not necessarily defined by the intersection of two orthogonal lines.

In this embodiment of the invention, locator boxes 22, 23 and 24, are no longer present. The name or identifier of the currently displayed facility 37 is presented adjacent a drop-down facility selection list box 38, which also permits the user to select a different facility for display and which eliminates the requirement to display similar information in a locator box, such as locator box 22 of Fig. 5. The currently displayed location is displayed in drop-down list box 29', eliminating the requirement to display similar information in a locator box, such as locator box 23 of Fig. 5 and permitting the current location to be rapidly changed. The currently displayed section or area is displayed in two drop-down list boxes 31 ', either of which may be used to rapidly select a new section, as identified by corresponding indicia within the wide area view of quadrant 27'. The display of a current area or section in drop-down list boxes 31 ' eliminates the requirement to display similar information in a locator box, such as locator box 24 of Fig. 5. The currently displayed floor is displayed in two drop-down list boxes 32', either of which may be used to rapidly select a new floor of the currently selected region of the currently selected facility for display. The currently displayed utility or roof access location is displayed in drop-down list box 30', permitting the currently selected utility or roof access location to be rapidly changed. Proximate the upper-right corner of the display, clicking on print screen button 39 with a pointing device causes a hardcopy snapshot of the currently displayed information to be printed. Clicking on help guide button 40 causes user help information to be displayed in a separate window. Clicking on report bug button 41 causes a user bug reporting dialog to be displayed in a separate window. Data entered by the user in this dialog is stored in an associated database table on the web server hosting the application. An email to a predetermined administrator, containing the data entered by the user, may also or alternatively be generated as a part of user bug reporting. Proximate the upper- center portion of the display, text entry box 75 permits search information to be entered by the user. Current position indicators 56 of quadrants 26' and 27', as well as the 360° panoramic image of quadrant 25', will all be simultaneously updated to reflect to location matching the search data entered by the user in this text box.

Quadrant 25' of primary facility display 20' is shown in enlarged form in Fig. 29. In this embodiment, several tabs are presented towards the top of the quadrant. Clicking on a particular tab causes different associated information to be displayed below the tabs. In particular, clicking on virtual tour tab 42, the default and initially highlighted/selected tab of this quadrant, causes a 360° panoramic photograph of the currently selected location to be displayed. As in the prior embodiment, the user may "click and drag" the pointing device on the displayed image, in order to pan the image to the left, right, up and down. Moreover, a scroll wheel or other component of the pointing device may be employed to change the magnification of the image; i.e., to zoom the image in and out. In this embodiment, and as shown in Fig. 29, in addition to the compass cardinal directions of North, South, East and West, additional, intermediate compass markings 45 are likewise superimposed on each panoramic image in quadrant 25', to provide a more detailed indication of the direction being viewed at any given time. In addition, when virtual tour tab 42 is selected, a series of image control buttons are presented immediately below the panoramic image. Clicking on buttons 46, 47, 49 and 49 causes the panoramic image to pan to the left, right, down, and up, respectively, and clicking on buttons 50 and 51 cause the panoramic image to be enlarged (zoomed in) or reduced (zoomed out) in magnification, respectively. Indicia 52 below the panoramic image describes the contents of the current image.

When video memo tab 43 is selected, such as by clicking on the tab with a pointing device, a previously recorded video and/or audio clip, preferably containing information pertinent to the currently selected location or room displayed in virtual tour tab 42, or globally pertinent to the presently selected facility or section/area of the presently selected facility, is played to the user. When hi-res photo tab 44 is selected, a high resolution still photographic image is presented in the region immediately below tab 44. Typically, this high resolution image will be predetermined and will represent a pertinent item within the currently displayed room or section, such as, for example, a close-up image of a control panel, switches, buttons, gauges, or other utility-related information.

Quadrant 26' of primary facility display 20' is shown in enlarged form in Fig. 30. In this embodiment, several tabs are presented towards the top of the quadrant. Clicking on a particular tab causes different associated information to be displayed below the tabs. In particular, clicking on floorplan view tab 53, the default and initially highlighted/selected tab of this quadrant, causes an enlarged floor plan of the section or region currently selected by the user to be displayed immediately below the tab. Within this enlarged floorplan display, the currently selected room or other location, simultaneously displayed as a panoramic image in quadrant 25', is identified by current position indicator 56, which may comprise, for example, a flashing red or other contrastingly colored dot. Adjacent current position indicator 56, a region 57 is highlighted, indicating both the approximate direction of view and the approximate field of view corresponding to the current orientation of the panoramic image in quadrant 25'. As a user horizontally pans or horizontally rotates the 360° panoramic image displayed in quadrant 25', highlighted region 57 is simultaneously rotated in synchronization with the changing orientation of the panoramic image.

Clicking on a location within the enlarged image displayed below floorplan view tab 53 causes current position indicator 56 and highlighted region 57 to be moved to the newly selected location. At the same time, the panoramic image and identifying indicia 52 in quadrant 25', as well as the current location displayed within drop-down list box 29' of quadrant 26', and the current position indicator 56 and highlighted region 57 of quadrant 27', are all likewise updated to reflect the newly selected position identified by the user.

As shown in Fig. 30, locations in the displayed floorplan, such as rooms, or regions of rooms, may include identifying indicia displayed therein. For example, the indicia "Band Room" is employed to identify the common name for a particular room within the facility displayed in Fig. 30. Moreover, the separate indicia "B 102", corresponding to the room number for the same room, is also displayed. Also, within Fig. 30, the indicia "Auditorium" refers to a large region of the floorplan, while the indicia "Stage", "Seating", and "Ramp" refers to sub-regions of the Auditorium. Unlike previously discussed embodiments of the present invention, dots or other displayable indicia are not used to depict nodes, or selectable locations having corresponding panoramic 360° images available. Instead, whenever the user uses a pointing device to select a particular location within the currently viewed floorplan of quadrant 26', the nearest available node location having a corresponding panoramic image in the database, relative to the position selected by the user, is automatically "jumped to" and selected.

Whenever floorplan view tab 53 is selected, four clickable buttons are displayed above the floorplan. Clicking on button 58 automatically moves current position indicator 56 to the geometric center of the currently displayed portion of the floorplan in quadrant 26'.

Clicking on button 59 causes the floorplan of quadrant 26' to enter pan mode, and re-clicking on button 59 causes the floorplan of quadrant 26' to exit pan mode. When in pan mode, the pointing device may be employed to drag the floorplan up, down, left and right, thus panning the enlarged floorplan of quadrant 26' in order to display different portions of the overall floorplan depicted in quadrant 27'. As the displayed enlarged partial floorplan of quadrant 26' is altered by panning, highlighted portion 66 of the overall floorplan displayed in quadrant 27' is simultaneously updated, such that, at any given time, the highlighted portion in quadrant 27' corresponds to the currently displayed, enlarged partial floorplan of quadrant 26' .

Clicking on button 60 causes the magnification of the partial floorplan of quadrant 26' to be enlarged and, in turn, causes a smaller portion of the overall floorplan to be displayed in this quadrant, and a simultaneously causes a smaller portion of the overall floorplan of quadrant 27' to be highlighted. Clicking on button 61 causes the magnification of the partial floorplan of quadrant 26' to be reduced and, in turn, causes a larger portion of the overall floorplan to be displayed in this quadrant, and a simultaneously causes a smaller portion of the overall floorplan of quadrant 27' to be highlighted. In this embodiment of the present invention, the underlying data stored within database server 11 (Fig. 1) and used to generate the floorplan images is vector, rather than pixel based. This permits the generated floorplan image of quadrant 26' to be enlarged and reduced in magnification without significant loss of image resolution and quality. Clicking on perspective view tab 54 causes the floorplan type view shown in Fig.

30 to be replaced with an elevational, 2-dimensional or 3 -dimensional perspective view of the selected section or region of the facility. Using the pointing device, the user may tilt and rotate this displayed image. Clicking on satellite view tab 55 causes the floorplan type view shown in Fig. 30 to be replaced with a geographic information system (GIS) map of the currently selected facility.

Quadrant 27' of primary facility display 20' is shown in enlarged form in Fig. 31 is shown in enlarged form in Fig. 31. In this embodiment, several tabs are presented towards the top of the quadrant. Clicking on a particular tab causes different associated information to be displayed below the tabs. In particular, clicking on area/selection tab 62, the default and initially highlighted/selected tab of this quadrant, causes a "birds eye", general overview floorplan of the entire currently selected facility to be displayed.

Within the floorplan, indicia 65 may be employed to identify specific sections or areas of the overall floorplan, such as "Section A", "Section B", and "Section C". A highlighted region, such as rectangular region 66, identifies the portion or subset of the overall floorplan of quadrant 27' that is currently displayed in association with floorplan view tab 53 of quadrant 26'. As in quadrant 26', current position indicator 56 and highlighted region 57 collectively provide an indication of the currently selected position, as well as the currently selected field of view, corresponding to the 360° panoramic image currently displayed in quadrant 25'. Clicking on any specific location within the birds eye floorplan of quadrant 27' causes current position indicator 56 and highlighted region 57 to be repositioned at (or at the nearest available node location) corresponding to the selected position. Simultaneously, highlighted region 66 of quadrant 27', the enlarged floorplan displayed in association with floorplan view tab 53 of quadrant 26', and the 360° panoramic image of quadrant 25', are all updated in real-time to reflect the newly selected position.

Clicking on floor level view tab 63 causes the birds eye overall floorplan view to be replaced with an exterior, top to bottom profile view or 3 -dimensional image of the entire facility. A pointing device may be employed in "click and drag" or other suitable mode in order to rotate the profile view of the facility. As in quadrant 26', clicking on satellite view tab 55 causes the birds eye floorplan type view shown in Fig. 31 to be replaced with a geographic information system (GIS) map of the currently selected facility. Quadrant 28' of primary facility display 20' is shown in enlarged form in Fig. 32.

In this embodiment, several tabs are presented towards the top of the quadrant. Clicking on a particular tab causes different associated information to be displayed below the tabs. In particular, clicking on location info tab 67 causes the currently selected location, section/area, utilities/roof access associated with the currently selected location to be displayed immediately below. In addition, search tags associated with the currently selected location, used to facilitate pattern matching of search date entered by the user in text box 75, are displayed. The file name of the flash video or other data used to create the 360° panoramic image associated with the current location is displayed in this tab. Similarly, if an audio/video or high resolution photograph is associated with the presently selected location, the associate filename is likewise displayed in this tab. Moreover, additional notes, such as information pertinent to the present location, may likewise be entered and displayed via this tab. Clicking on facility info tab 68 causes information pertaining to the overall facility, including emergency contact names and associated telephone numbers, building occupancy information, gas/water and other utility cutoff procedures and utility contact information, to be displayed immediately below the tab. Clicking on access log tab 69 causes application access log data to be retrieved from database server 11 and displayed immediately below the tab. Clicking on map key tab 70 causes icons, similar to those shown in the legend of quadrant 28 of Fig. 11, to be displayed, together with associated textual descriptions of each icon. These icons are preferably consistent with standards promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association. Moreover, in this embodiment, each such icon displayed in quadrant 28' has an associated checkbox displayed immediately adjacent the icon. Checking a checkbox causes each instance of the associated icon contained within the enlarged portion of the facility floorplan currently displayed within quadrant 26' to be made visible. Conversely, un-checking a checkbox causes each instance of the associated icon contained within the enlarged portion of the facility floorplan currently displayed within quadrant 26' to be hidden from view. In this manner, the user may employ these checkboxes to control the amount of detail displayed in the enlarged floorplans of quadrant 26', and to "de-clutter" quadrant 26' by hiding from display information that is currently considered to be of lesser relevance or importance to the current emergency or crisis.

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a mechanism for tracking when rooms have been visually "cleared" or otherwise checked by responding personnel. This capability is particularly useful to users responding to a bomb threat or other situation requiring groups of rooms, or an entire facility, to be cleared. Clicking on a particular room or region in quadrant 26 indicates that the associated room or region has been cleared. Upon such selection of a room or region, the color of the selected room or region will be changed to a highlighted color, or to flash on and off in the highlighted color, simultaneously in three locations: a) the font of designated room or location in drop-down list box 29; b) the color of the room displayed in quadrant 26 and c)when an entire section of a building has been designated as "cleared", the indicated area in quadrant 27.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an additional first responder tracking feature is provided. In this embodiment, each responder caries a position transponder, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder, which continually broadcasts both the responder' s current position, as well as data indicating the identity of the particular responder. Such information may, for example, be provided through cellular telephones carried by the responders, in conjunction with location-dependent services and software frameworks provided by cellular telephone service providers. Alternatively, dedicated GPS or RFID transponders of other position indicating transponders may alternatively be used. Real time tracking of the locations of such first responders as they move throughout a monitored building or facility are thus provided. In particular, the individual location of each tracked responder is indicated by associated colored rectangles in quadrants 26 and 27. The position of each colored rectangle is continuously updated as the associated responders move through the building or facility. Placing a mouse pointer over a given rectangle results in the display of additional information, such as the identity of the particular responder.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a "best way in/out feature" is provided. In particular, the shortest route between a location identified by a user as being of particular interest within the building or facility and the nearest exit/entry way is calculated and highlighted on the display. This route is displayed by red lines overlaying the green lines that indicate hallways in quadrant 26, and appear in both quadrant 26, and quadrant 25 (superimposed over the displayed panoramic image or live video feed of this quadrant). Moreover, the user may manipulate the automatically calculated evacuation/entry route, should the automated route not be able for use due to crisis related circumstances. In particular, the user may draw their own route in quadrant 26 using a mouse or other pointing device, click an update button, and the system will then display the newly created route in the manner described above. Furthermore, the user may optionally designate one or more particular evacuation/entry points as being inaccessible, such as by selecting an associated item from a pop-up selection menu, provided to the user by after the user clicks on a particular evacuation/entry point position in quadrant 26. The automatically calculated evacuation/entry route will then be calculated or recalculated, as the case may be, along a route which excludes all evacuation/entry points designated by the user as being unavailable.

In one preferred embodiment, the present invention further includes an instant message subsystem, permitting multiple contemporaneous users relative to the same building or facility to securely exchange text and other information as a part of the overall emergency response or crisis management efforts.

Prior to activating the present web application for a particular building or facility, a production process is first undertaken. Equipment typically employed at the production stage include a 10 MB digital camera equipped with a monopod camera support, an Eye360 panorama adapter lens, at least GB of flash memory; a laptop or Personal Digital

Assistant (PDA), and current floor plans of the building or facility to be monitored.

In the production process, a complete set of location nodes (i.e., points of relevant interest, such as rooms or portion of rooms, to be identified as gray dots in quadrant 26) are first determined. Next, panoramic photographs are taken of each location node. Each location node is recorded on the facility floor plan, together with a uniquely assigned node number, and text describing the node location. This information is likewise recorded a local database on the laptop, for later entry into the backend database portion of the present web application.

Next, the post production step is performed. Equipment used for post production includes a desktop post production computer and/or laptop, the web server and database server software, and several off the shelf software packages, such as Photo Warp

(panoramic imaging software), Flash, NumberFlash, PhotoShop, Stitcher Unlimited, and

Ztour. In the post production process, all photographs from the camera's flash memory cards are imported into the post production computer. Each photograph is further rendered using the PhotoWarp application, and numbered using the NumberFlash application. Associated node data is transferred from the production laptop to the web application's database server. In addition, floor plans of facility are scanned, and all floor plans, floor levels, and location details are modified using the using the PhotoShop application. Node and description symbols/icons depicted in quadrant 28 are then added to the scanned and modified floor plans using the Flash application. Next, all panoramic flash and flash floor plan files are uploaded to the database server. Additional facility detail information is likewise added to the database server. Alternative modes for users to securely log into the present system are also contemplated by the present invention. These alternative methods combine certain aspects of the user login page of Fig. 2, together with the satellite imagery, geospatial imaging, or topographic mapping facilities of Fig. 18. In these alternative modes, a satellite image may initially be presented to an unauthenticated user, with one or more facilities or buildings, for which emergency response or crisis management information is potentially available, being colored, marked, or otherwise highlighted in the satellite image to indicate to the user the availability of interior mapping information relative to such specific facilities or buildings. Upon a user's clicking upon or otherwise selecting a highlighted building or facility of the satellite image, a username/password dialog is presented, such as by superimposing associated text entry boxes proximate the selected building or facility. Following data entry by the user, user authentication then proceeds in the manner previously described with respect to Fig. 2. In a variation of this alternative mode of user authentication, indicia identifying accessible areas or regions of buildings or facilities, such as area identifying indicia "1", "2", "3", "4", "8", "9", "11" and "12" of quadrant 27 in Fig. 6, are superimposed over a satellite image, such as the satellite image shown in Fig. 18. Upon a user clicking on such a marked area or region of a building or facility, a username/password dialog box is superimposed over the satellite image, with a line connecting the dialog box to the selected area as a further indicator of the user's selection. Upon entry of an appropriate username and password, visual access is granted to the interior of the building or facility, with a default starting point centered on the specific area or region selected by the user. The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention, and the invention is not limited thereto, as those of skill in the art who have the present disclosure before them will be able to understand and make modifications to the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system providing a computer implemented interactive mapping of the interior of a facility, the system comprising:

- a first display region capable of displaying at least one of a panoramic image and a live video feed of a location within the facility;

- a second display region capable of displaying at least a portion of a floor plan of the facility encompassing the location displayed in the first display region;

- a third display region capable of displaying at least a portion of an overview of the entire facility encompassing the portion of the floor plan displayed in the first display region; and

- a fourth display region capable of displaying a legend comprising a plurality of symbols indicative of items located within the facility, at least one of the plurality of symbols being displayed within the second display region as an indicator of the presence and location of an instance of the item identified by the symbol.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of symbols indicate items selected from the group consisting of security camera location; fire hydrant location; exit/entryway location; fire pump location; fireman's telephone location; security telephone location; duress station location; electrical panel location; gas valve and pipe location; water valve and pipe location; alarm panel locations, including central alarm panel; roof access location; chemical storage location; fire extinguisher location; handicap accessible safety area location; manual fire alarm pull station location; and fire department hose connection location.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein a shortest route between a location identified by a user as being of particular interest within the facility and a nearest exit/entry way is determined and displayed in the second display region.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein physical locations of emergency responders within the facility are tracked in real time and displayed by associated indicia in the second display region.

5. The system according to claim 1, further including means for selectively displaying emergency contact information relative to the facility.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein a digital compass is displayed within at least one of the display regions.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein a location of a central alarm panel is displayed in a highlighted manner within at least one of the display regions.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein both the location of a fire hydrant, and its distance from the facility, are displayed within at least one of the display regions.

9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for printing the contents of only one of the first, second, third, and fourth display regions in an enlarged manner.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for zooming and unzooming a displayed panoramic image.

11. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one region textually describing a current facility simultaneously shown in the first, second and third display regions.

12. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one region textually describing a current location simultaneously shown in the first and second display regions.

13. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one region currently describing a current area shown in the third display region.

14. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means to navigate a currently displayed location directly to a particular room within the facility.

15. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means to navigate a currently displayed location directly to a particular floor within the facility.

16. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means to navigate a currently displayed area directly to a particular area within the facility.

17. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means to navigate a currently displayed location directly to at least one of a particular utility location and a particular roof access location.

18. The system according to claim 1, wherein a current position displayed within the first display region is designated by a highlighted symbol in the second display region.

19. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for selectively enabling and disabling the symbols displayed in the fourth display region, wherein symbols are only displayed in the second display region when they are enabled in the fourth display region.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein hallways within the facility are displayed in a highlighted color within at least one of the display regions.

21. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a tab for selecting a recorded video to be displayed at the first display region and/or audio information to be provided, the video or audio information relevant to the location.

22. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of drop down menu tabs for selecting one item from a group consisting of a location, a section and a floor, wherein the selected item for a given drop down menu tab is indicated textually within a border of the tab, as well as displayed by the second display region and highlighted within the third display region.

23. The system according to claim 1, further comprising, for displaying within the third display region, a tab for selecting a one dimensional floor plan view of the entire facility for a selected floor, a tab for selecting a profile view showing each floor of the entire facility, and a tab for selecting a satellite image of the entire facility.

24. The system according to claim 1, further comprising hot links located at a plurality of locations within the second display region for selecting a new location to be displayed by the first display region, and further comprising a drop down menu tab which provides a list of one or more locations to be selected for display by the first display region, whereby a location to be displayed within the first display region may be selected either by a graphical location as displayed by the second display region or via a textual description provided by the drop down menu tab, and wherein upon the selected location is shown in the first display region, the corresponding textual description is provided within a border of the drop down menu tab, and the respective section is highlighted within the third display region.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising hot links located at a plurality of sections within the third display region for selecting a new section to be displayed by the second display region, and further comprising a drop down menu tab which provides a list of one or more sections to be selected for display by the second display region, whereby a section to be displayed within the second display region may be selected either by a graphical location as displayed by the third display region or via a textual description provided by the drop down menu tab, and wherein upon the selected section is shown in the second display region, the corresponding textual description is provided within a border of the drop down menu tab, and the section is highlighted within the third display region.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more indicia located within the second display region representing a location of a camera, the indicia for selecting the respective live video feed of the location for display within the first display region.

27. The system of claim 1, further comprising mean for click and dragging the panoramic image about a 360 degree rotation, with a respective compass direction indicia provided within the image, and further comprising a location indicia positioned in the respective location in the second and third display regions, the location indicia including a view direction indication corresponding to the indicated compass direction indicia displayed in the first display region.

28. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for click and dragging within the second display region to reposition the displayed floor plan.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein the facility displayed to the user is selected during an authentication process by presenting a satellite image to the user, the satellite image having a selectable portion corresponding to the facility.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the facility displayed in the satellite image further includes discretely selectable regions thereof, and wherein a specific region of the facility for initial display is selected by the user during the authentication process.