Video Shows How Geospatial Intelligence Center Imagery is Transforming Catastrophe Response

Images Available to Emergency Personnel, Insurers and the Public

Technology provided by the Geospatial Intelligence Center (GIC) following Hurricanes Florence and Michael, gave the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) member companies access to ultra-high resolution images of the devastation to help enhance insurers’ efforts to respond to their impacted customers.

The GIC imagery was collected by a fleet of airplanes, each equipped with a $1.5 million Vexcel Imaging sensor. The planes were in the air as soon a weather permitted after the hurricanes providing images and data to GIC member companies within 24-36 hours of the flights.

This provides insurers with vital information that helps them respond and pay claims faster to help victims get on the road to recovery. The imagery is also provided at no charge to emergency personnel, first responders and law enforcement to assist in their response to the damage.

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The GIC has also mapped the areas hardest hit by previous hurricanes and disasters and those views are also available.  This effort is part of the massive data collection and processing system spearheaded by the NICB whose member companies write almost 80 percent of all property/casualty insurance and over 94 percent of all auto insurance in the country.

On a regular basis, the GIC is in the process of collecting high-resolution “before” benchmark imagery on the ground and in the air in some 100 markets.  Through a network of aviation companies, the GIC is prepared to reach any disaster area in the U.S. within two hours and can begin imagery collection as soon as it is safe to fly and skies have cleared.

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