ORI programmer Matthew Yip has received a commendation from Metrorail for his outstanding achievement in the design of a search technique that allows ready access by police and fire emergency responders to Metrorail's emergency response maps.
The Operation Respond Institute (ORI) has been working closely with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to develop software technology that overlays commuter rail and transit track and landmark coordinates on overhead imagery and highway maps for incident response purposes. In the current phase of this FTA-sponsored initiative, ORI is working with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to design software that displays accurate track and station alignments of all Metrorail surface lines, aerial sections and subway tunnels on a background of high-resolution aerial photography and street maps. Emergency responders in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia all utilize these maps to pinpoint the exact location of a Metrorail incident, to determine the best possible approach and to identify important life safety features.
Dr. James W. Boone, ORI's Executive Vice President, conceived and spearheaded this initiative as a working partnership with WMATA. "Matthew's hard work and dedication to excellence have clearly helped us develop this unique application. This marks a major step toward achieving our goal of delivering an easy-to-use GIS application to help emergency responders save time and lives, while serving as a national model for enhancing rail transit safety and security with existing information resources."
ORI Senior Systems Architect Matthew Yip was presented WMATA's Certificate of Appreciation "in appreciation of service for emergency response map programming" on November 4, 2003 by Mr. R. Sean Burgess, General Superintendent, Systems Maintenance. Mr. Burgess presented the certificate at the conclusion of a formal briefing of Metro Police officials and fire, rescue and safety liaison staff on the new software.