Prototype in development
Flood documentation for emergency operations centers
CiteBrief
CiteBrief is a prototype tool for documenting actions before, during and after an event.
It is a prototype in development, not a warning system, and not a replacement for official alerts.
When the river rises, everyone needs the same picture.
One shared view helps an emergency operations center (EOC) document what is happening and what the team did.
Want a demo of the prototype, or to talk about whether it fits your needs? Write to [email protected].
What the prototype does
Here is what the CiteBrief Flood COP prototype shows today.
One shared map of live USGS river gauges, laid out upstream to downstream, with water level and rate of rise.
Plain-language recommended postures (Monitor, Prepare, Escalate, Act Now, Major, and No reading). These are recommendations, not orders. Decisions stay with the emergency manager and the Incident Commander.
A reading appears only when an official source returned it. When there is none, the space stays empty.
An event log that records key team actions: who, which job, and when.
Printable internal briefing forms (not official agency forms) that the Incident Commander reviews and accepts.
The Incident Commander approves each user and assigns their job, and each person is shown the pages that job uses.
Field check-ins on the same picture in the prototype demos, with optional phone location sharing when enabled.
A practice mode for rehearsal that does not change the live posture.
Checks USGS and NWS about every five minutes. Tested with about 100 gauges at once, and runs on a single small Linux computer.
How it works: before, during, after
Before
Practice mode and the shared map, so the team can rehearse without changing the live posture.
During
Plain-language postures, the event log, and the internal briefing form help the team keep one common operating picture (COP) while they document actions.
After
The event log keeps a time-stamped record of what the team did. You can print it or download it as a spreadsheet for your team's own learning and after-action review. It's an internal record, not an official filing.
How we build it
We build by Lane, Authority, and Witness. Our lane is the common operating picture (COP) for one area of operations. Forecasts, observations, and command stay with the offices that own those functions. We inform the Incident Commander. The Commander decides.
A reading appears only when a trusted source returned it for that area of operations. When the source has no reading, the space stays empty.
CiteBrief Vigil checks this site against Lane, Authority, and Witness. If a claim leaves its lane, speaks for an authority it does not hold, or shows a reading no source returned, it does not ship.
Request a conversation
Want a demo of the prototype, or to talk about whether it fits your needs? Write to [email protected].
Write to [email protected]