Silver Jackets Webinar Supporting Flood Risk Reduction

Post date: Jun 10, 2014 3:06:55 PM

Mobile Information Collection Application (MICA) System

The Silver Jackets program provides a formal and consistent strategy for an interagency approach to planning and implementing measures to reduce the risks associated with flooding and other natural hazards.

In a May 13, 2014, SJ webinar, Robert Walker from the USACE Engineering Research and Design Center provided an overview of the Mobile Information Collection Application system using smartphones. The one-hour presentation generated a lot of interest and follow-up questions. The presentation (pdf, 1.85 MB) is available. The web-based video is available here.

MICA has proven to be an excellent tool for those in the field and for those that support them. Pictures, videos, notes, or custom form data can be captured digitally from the start and available for analysis immediately, saving hours of writing on forms and typing data into spreadsheets.

Although the system has been used primarily by the Corps to collect information on situational awareness, debris removal, and flood damage to levees and infrastructure, there are several other potential uses. Floodplain managers and SJ team members from multiple agencies in a post disaster environment could potentially use the MICA tool to collect high-water data, identify substantially damaged buildings, track past mitigation projects, and flag structures for future mitigation projects.