Free Software in e-Governance?

lunatech3007 asks: "I am writing a paper on the use of free software in e-Governance. I plan to submit this paper to " National Conference on e-Governance" (more information on e-Governance) . I am writing a section on the countries which have successfully adopted free software for e-governance or for government related works. I am looking for articles/websites/papers where they give their experiences while using it. Also in March 2002 RMS presented a paper on `Free Software and Relevance to India` in Banglore, India. I have not been able to get this paper online. Can anyone give pointers where I can get hold of this paper? Any help in this regard will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged."

Totally wild guess...

[prostoalex]

hm, let's see, how about [e-mail]?

US EPA's Free Tools

[Big Sean O]

The US EPA (and NOAA) have produced several "Free as In Beer" programs. They have been made available to emergency planners and responders to plan for chemical emergencies. Three of these programs interoperate and are referred to as "The CAMEO Suite" [epa.gov]. I'll describe them here:

CAMEO

This is a database application (based on FileMaker Pro) that runs on Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Out of the box it contains a Chemical Library for over 6000 different hazardous chemicals. Many chemicals listed have a complete "Response Information Data Sheet" which summarizes Fire Fighting, First Aid, and accidental spill information. Since it is free, it has been widely adopted by Hazardous Materials teams as an information resource.

In addition to the Chemical Library, the program has modules for:

• Facilities: In addition to the facilities address, you can store phone numbers, emergency contacts, and a description of Hazardous Chemicals on-site.
• Contacts: Which is essentially an address book module.
• Special Locations: Which allows you to store address and contact data for Hospitals, Schools, Nursing Homes, Prisons. Basically any place without chemicals.
• Screenings and Scenarios: Emergency planners can anticipate certain chemical releases and model their effects. This allows facilities and emergency responders to develop plans that mitigate the release effects, or decrease the liklihood of release.

CAMEO is rather easy to use. The biggest problem is data entry. Most Fire Departments don't have the resources to enter and maintain the data in the program.

MARPLOT

Marplot is a free GIS program. You can download maps for your area from US EPA website. It has pan and zoom controls, which makes it an offline alternative to MAPQUEST. It also has a pretty good search interface so you can find the street address, or intersection you're looking for.

It also has the ability to map CAMEO locations. That means you can plot each chemical facility's location and see the area that would be effected by a chemical accident. The screening and scenarios "threat zones" can be plotted so you can preplan evacuation zones and identify special locations at risk from a chemical accident.

ALOHA

This program is a chemical release modeler. You provide it with the parameters: Location of spill, Time, Weather conditions, Type of Chemical, Quantity and rate of release -- and ALOHA will generate a 'footprint' of the expected release.

It is a gaussian dispersion model and is only considered accurate to a factor of 2. However, unlike other models, you don't need a Atmospheric Meterologist, a Chemical Engineer, or a Beowulf cluster (obligatory /. reference) to collect data and run the model.

ALOHA integrates with CAMEO, so you can use the facilities and chemicals in the database as inputs to the program. It also integrates with MARPLOT, so the release plume can be plotted. This allows emergency responders to anticipate (based on actual conditions) in what direction a chemical release will disperse. This can facilitate emergency response and evacuation.

US EPA and NOAA (who developed these programs) have really done a service to the Emergency Response community by making these programs free. Similar programs cost can cost hundreds of dollars.

None of these programs are open source, but the import/export data formats are well-documented.

The main cost to communities in the adoption of these programs is (a) training and (b) data entry and maintenance. Chemical hazard planning is not a trivial skill and most communities don't have enough facilities to hire someone full-time.

The federal government has created "Local Emergency Planning Committees", or LEPC, to do this planning, but it is an unfunded mandate and is usually staffed by volunteers.

So the tools are nice, but their use is predicated on a community's perceived need. A large city with a lot of industry definitely benefits from these programs, but a small rural community can decide they don't need to bother.

Re:US EPA's Free Tools

[vegetablespork]

That's good news. Now the real question is "Where is all the other government developed software?" Anything the U.S. Government writes can't be subject to copyright and, if unclassified, is therefore in the public domain. Of course, they dodge this requirement by using contractors most of the time.