IBM and Eagle Technology have announced Emergency Management Southland (EMS) and Hamilton City Council are using the IBM cloud to expand and improve the quality of information and services delivered to employees and the public.

EMS, which provides civil defence services on behalf of four councils, uses a web-based emergency management planning application to illustrate the location of critical infrastructure, transport routes and potential hazards.

The ‘Lifelines’ application is designed to be accessible from any location to help Civil Defence and Council officials with emergency planning and response efforts.

“Worldwide, city leaders are finding new ways to use technology to improve services in the face of constrained resources,” says Paul Douglas, Business Manager, Integrated Technology Services, IBM New Zealand.

“With cloud-based solutions, IBM is helping towns and cities of all sizes discover new ways to expand upon or enhance services for citizens and improve efficiency of city operations.”

In Hamilton, the city council is using the cloud-based mapping solution to search detailed rating and property value information for any property in the city via computer and smartphone devices.

Eagle says their cloud-based, Esri ArcGIS mapping applications and tools offer a cost-effective and scalable way for local authorities to use and share information in ways that were not previously available.

“Leveraging the cloud, we are able to provide customers with fast, easy and cost-effective access to mapping information and tools that are accessible from PCs, tablets or mobile phones, so they don’t have to worry about installing special software or data management,” said Gary Langford, CEO, Eagle Technology Group.

“This approach exemplifies how organisations can create resilient, scalable and flexible mapping environments for public use without impacting their internal IT environment.”