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Modernizing Hazard Data Feeds
at the Pacific Disaster Center

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● Introduction
● About Kontur and the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)
● Review of current data processing methods at PDC
● Data modernization with FME
● Examples of FME in use at PDC
● Additional infrastructure changes with FME
● The path forward for PDC and FME
Agenda

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Jorma Rodieck
o Worked in the IT field for the last 20+ years
o Took my first GIS class at UC Santa Cruz in 1996
o Worked with Kontur last seven years primarily with the PDC
o Strong technical background with a focus on GIS related
projects the last 12 years
o Bachelor’s degree in Biology from UC Santa Cruz
o Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Geographic Information
Systems from Penn State University
o AWS Certified Developer – Associate
o From the Pacific NW and currently living in Maui, Hawaii
Project Manager / Developer at Kontur

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Kontur is a company specialized in disaster management and geoinformation.
Our solutions include datasets and program products that are used in
emergencies.
Kontur helps customers:
● track events in real-time
● estimate risks and impact
● get notified about changes in the course of events
About Kontur

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022
Who is PDC?
Staff and industry experts
of disasters
8 Global
Locations
Thousands
More than 60
Managed by
University of
Hawaii
since 2006
200+
Partner projects and
engagements
25
YEARS
OF SERVICE
+
Since 1996
Over 70
Partner Countries
PDC
Headquarters
www.pdc.org

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022 www.pdc.org
Who uses our systems?
Our partners at-a-glance
National Governments
United States Agencies International & Regional Orgs

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022
Our Global Mission
www.pdc.org
To provide evidence-based research, applied science, information, and cutting-edge technology
solutions for more effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies, practices, and humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) operations in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022 www.pdc.org
Disasters happen fast. Make better decisions faster.
Real-time and
historical hazards
Anticipated
impacts
Collaboration and
sharing
Live
cameras
Smart AlertTM
early warning
Asset
protection
Unrivaled
Situational
Awareness

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022
Disasters happen fast. Make better decisions faster.
6,500+
DATA LAYERS

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© Copyright PDC 2006-2022
Disasters happen fast. Make better decisions faster.
Disaster Alert™
disasteralert.pdc.org
DisasterAWARE Pro®
disasteraware.pdc.org
Customizable Solutions
Unlock the power of your own data.
Disaster Alert is a free, public
application that provides individuals,
families, and their loved ones with the
information they need to stay safe
anywhere in the world. Built on PDC s
DisasterAWARE® platform, Disaster Alert
offers real-time updates on hazards as
they are unfolding around the globe.
DisasterAWARE is the most powerful and
reliable early warning and multi-
hazard monitoring platform. It is used
by thousands of the most demanding
government customers and humanitarian
assistance organizations around the globe.
It supports disaster risk reduction and best
practices throughout all phases of disaster
management—providing early warning,
multi-hazard monitoring, modeled impact
assessments, and the largest collection of
scientifically verified geospatial data.
We provide out-of-the box and customized
disaster management solutions for early
warning and decision support, built on our
industry-leading disaster risk intelligence
platform, DisasterAWARE.
Learn more about our tailored DisasterAWARE
solutions.
Informing Decision-Making Worldwide

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How is PDC using FME?
PDC’s Implementation:
o PDC aggregates various hazard and data feeds
from a large variety of sources
o The data aggregation work is primarily done by a
custom Java application built by PDC 10+ years ago
o Issues arise with this process due to:
o Complexity of the Java application
o Monolithic architecture
o Scalability issues
o Limited knowledge of how the application is put
together and operates
o High level of programming experience needed
to make changes to the application

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How is PDC using FME?
Modernization of PDC’s Hazard Data Aggregation:
o Installation of FME Desktop and FME Server
o Test and Production Environments running FME Server
o Move automation process from legacy Java application
to FME Server
o Review of all logic and algorithms used in data
collection and aggregation for each hazard type
o Rewrite data aggregation and processing logic using
FME
o Review of FME Desktop results to confirm they
conform to expected known values
o Publish to FME Server Test
o Integrate into PDC products and services

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2) Publish to FME Server
FME Data Process at PDC
1) Workbench creation using FME Desktop
3) FME Server writes data
to PostgreSQL DB
4) Map document creation
using data in SQL DB
5) Publish map document to create map
service in ArcGIS Server
From FME to PDC’s DisasterAWARE Application
6) Create new layer in
DisasterAWARE

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Example: Wildfire Exposure
Providing real-time hazard information
1. Connect to NIFC’s API for real-time fire perimeter information
2. Connect the fire perimeter to real-time fire hazard information
3. Build products for information decision-makers

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Example: Public Weather Alerts for Canada
1. PDC Monitors an RSS feed and
processes the data every time
a new alert is issued
2. Each hazard received contains
polygon geometry and
attributes such as title, author,
description, event, affected
areas, severity.
3. Processing is done within FME
and a new hazard is created
within DisasterAWARE if the
specific criteria is met for that
hazard type.
4. Additional processing done in
FME to create exposure
impact data (see next slide)

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Example:
FME Integration into PDC’s Hazard Brief
1. Hazard Brief is a DisasterAWARE
component that contains the latest
hazard impact data for a specific
hazard
2. Hazard Brief updates the hazard
data shown as new data comes
available
3. FME is utilized in Hazard Brief
processing for calculating the
exposure impact from the hazard
polygon and providing the
exposure data to the Hazard Brief
application

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Additional FME Infrastructure Changes
Monitoring and Alerting
o Leveraging the FME Server API and Google Sheets:
o Daily FME job to compare Test and Prod FME Servers to make sure that
workbenches, automations, schedules, etc. are in sync
o Daily FME job to confirm that workspaces on the server are the same as the
files checked into the PDC Git repo
o Run checks on critical jobs to report if they have failed x times in a row
o Example: It is ok for a job that runs every 10min to fail once, but not ok for a job that
runs once a month to fail once
o Run regular checks on queues to ensure jobs are processed efficiently
o Integration into PDC’s system monitoring tool (Site24x7) to provide immediate
alerting for critical issues
o Slack and email notifications for job failures and configuration changes

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How has FME improved life at PDC?
o FME helps remove much of the complexity when making
changes to existing code
o Less dependency on highly technical Java developers
o No longer need to redeploy the whole application when
making changes
o Improved reliability: A bug in an FME workspace will not
impact other workspaces
o Separation of jobs into individual workbenches makes it
easier to understand each component
o Knowledge of how each workbench operates can be
easily shared
o Lowers the barrier to entry for skills required to develop
o Easier to debug and rerun jobs when something is not
working

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The Path Forward for PDC and FME
PDC plans to migrate all existing data processes
from their existing monolithic Java application to
FME. The logic and data science used for
aggregating hazard data for each hazard type will
be reviewed, and then after the logic and
algorithms are confirmed all data processing for
the hazard type will be moved to FME. Once
completed for all hazard types, the existing Java
application will be removed from production.

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Questions? Comments?

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Resources
Pacific Disaster Center: https://pdc.org
Kontur, Inc: https://kontur.io
DisasterAlert (PDC’s public DisasterAWARE application): https://disasteralert.pdc.org
DisasterAlert Mobile:

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Thank You!
jorma@kontur.io

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