Event Geodatabase

Purpose

“Event” is the NWCG GIS operational data standard for use on all incidents and contains point, line, and polygon representations for typical fire features. Commonly referred to as ‘The Event GDB,’ it was approved by the NWCG's Geospatial Subcommittee in the spring of 2017 along with the NWCG Wildland Fire Event Point, Event Line, and Event Polygon Data Standards. The Event GDB is used in all phases of a wildfire incident including initial attack, extended fire management activities, and rehabilitation and repair.

A standardized incident geodatabase schema is critical to the interoperability and efficiency of personnel and tools on a wildland fire incident. A consistent schema permits the development of tools and workflows to speed data management and mapping. A standard schema also allows incident data to be aggregated at the Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC) and national level to provide a picture of the wildland fire situation.

The Event GDB is referenced several ways based on application (Offline Copy, Master Incident GDB, etc.). It is important to understand that because "Event" is a schema standard, the data in each of these is interchangeable. Different names designate the different implementation phases of the Event GDB in various workflows. The Event GDB is primarily implemented in the wildland fire enterprise environment through the National Incident Feature Service (NIFS).

Specifications

The Geographic Information System Specialist (GISS)​ will adhere to the following:

• GISS and any other incident personnel working with incident spatial information must use the NWCG Approved Wildland Fire Event GDB standard for data storage and exchange.
• The Event schema should not be modified.
• Required data elements in the Wildland Fire Event GDB must be fully populated during the incident. The Event attributes serve as feature-level metadata for each record.
• The Event GDB will be stored in the correct location in the Incident Directory Structure and follow File Naming conventions for GDB name.
• The Event GDB will be backed up to provide a snapshot of the incident data daily or more frequently based on incident activity.
• The required data elements FeatureAccess, FeatureStatus, and IsVisible are used by external systems to control the sharing of the incident data. Unless considered sensitive, the fire polygon will have FeatureAccess = Public, FeaturesStatus = Approved, and IsVisible = Yes (these are the default values for Event Polygon).
• PolygonDateTime, LineDateTime, and PointDateTime data elements must be entered in UTC in ArcGIS Pro.

References

• Wildland Fire Event Point Geospatial Data Layer Standards
• Wildland Fire Event Line Geospatial Data Layer Standards
• Wildland Fire Event Polygon Geospatial Data Layer Standards
• NWCG GISS Workflow, PMS 936-1

Responsibilities

The GISS is responsible for following the Event GDB standard and the specifications described in this section of GeoOps. The GISS will sync Event data to the NIFS after editing the Offline Copy. The GISS will work with the Situation Unit Leader (SITL) to ensure all data in the Event GDB accurately represents the incident.