CEO of Geocove — Emergency Services Mapping Company — Has Advice for Fellow GIS Workers, Entrepreneurs

ORLANDO, Fla. --- Karyn Tareen, chief executive officer of Geocove, Inc., the Orlando firm that helps government agencies and private corporations prepare for disaster recovery with cutting edge mapping and assessment systems, spoke to more than 200 participants at the recent Central Florida Geographic Information Systems workshop. Tareen had strong words of advice for the participants. Her first recommendation? Don’t wait until disaster strikes to sell your services to emergency managers and government agencies. GIS mapping for disaster management requires a baseline and preparation in order to properly assess damages and allocate disaster response, Tareen told the group. “It’s important to educate disaster managers and to show them how your services can significantly benefit their efforts before your services or their efforts are required,” she said. Tareen told GIS managers to start simple, to support multi-department collaboration and public information and to think outside the box. And if GIS managers think outside the box, there are many ways to educate the public and public officials to the benefits of GIS disaster preparedness. “This sounds simple, but providing a map for the tees and flags with the closest address for access can minimize response times to incidents on the golf course. If I think I’m having a heart attack on the 5th hole, I’d rather have the responders come directly to me, instead of the address for the club house,” Tareen said. “GIS gives us the tools to create these datasets in preparation for something to happen, for both disasters and normal operations”. Geocove’s ARM360 system helps agencies and the public to assess disaster damages in real time and allocate resources for emergency services and recovery. Geocove’s systems have been deployed from Melbourne, Australia to Fairfax, Virginia. The firm was recently presented the Innovative Technology Award from the Virginia Emergency Management Association. Geocove is a client of the UCF Business Incubation Program in the Central Florida Research Park in east Orange County.