When Tom Ridge annonced his color terrorist alert (See digital photo of newspaper article), it made perfect sense to use the Infinite GridSM as a means of a large number of people coordinating up and down spatial scales where there are issues associated with terrorists. Then when Texas A&M University announced they were seeking $150 million to become the center for Homeland Security, it made sense to reconnect Arnie Vedlitz and see if he is interested in promoting this idea. Thus this example was born, and the more detailed proof-of-concept for Harris County developed.
The Infinite GridSM was designed with advanced 3-D seismic interpretation workstations in mind. However, the concept is sufficiently simple that it can be applied ussing an Excel spread-sheet. This example was a proof-of-concept demonstration prepared for Texas A&M University as a result of the above referenced coincidences.
The idea is that when some agency receives a terrorist alert, they enter the location of the possible action on a "spread-sheet map." The other examples will describe how these Infinite GridSM maps may or may not be a spread-sheet. The key is that a number, based on the above definition of alert is entered into a cell. An example of this is shown at IG5 resolution (Infinite GridSM Level 5, or 50" Longitude by 25" Latitude grid cells) for Houston. When you go to this link, note how six numbers have been typed into the spread-sheet over the area representing downtown Houston. The numbers are: 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, and 1. This spread-sheet demonstrates how by entering these warning data, the results can be propogated up the Infinite GridSM resolutions scale. This is illustrated at IG 4 resolution for Harris County (Infinite GridSM Level 4 or 7.5' Longitude by 3.75' Latitude grid cells). Note how the values in the IG5 cells have simply been summed for the IG6 cells (2+3=5, 4=4, 1+2=3, and 1=1). In practice much more complicated relationships can be established. Zooming out for a look at how this alert falls in Harris County, at the same IG4 resolution, highlights immediately where police and civil defence need to focus their efforts. Since spread-sheets have become so widely used, there will be virtually no training to establish this type of linked spread-sheet. When the map is zoomed out to the next level, IG3 resolution (Infinite GridSM Level 3 or 1o Longitude by 30' Latitude grid cells), all the warnings fall within the same grid cell. Note this resolution of grid cells is about the size of Texas counties. The next level of zoom is at IG2 resolution (Infinite GridSM Level 2 or 5o Longitude by 2.5o Latitude. At this resolution it is easy to see how this approach allows instantaneous review of nationwide data using this approach. The data being mapped could be from markets, transportation, costs, revenues, political action, natural resources, crops, weather, etc., etc. And of course the results can be accumulated worldwide at IG1 resolution (Infinite GridSM Level 1 or 45o Longitude by 22.5o Latitude. The simplicity of this approach is what makes it so attractive. The last example shows when the data is reset, the mapped values all return to zero.
After presenting the results of this first step to Arnie Vedlitz and Ron Szabo at Texas A&M University on Friday, 29 March 2002, a proof-of-concept project was put together to provide a more robust example for moving up and down Infinite GridSM scales for Harris County, Texas using Census Tract and Census Block maps as the base. This work is described at http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample/CTmap, http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample/CTmapCT, http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample/Ozone, and http://www.walden3d.com/H. To follow the process as it developed, nextgo to http://www.walden3d.com/H/ sample/CTmap.
This page is at: http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample/Terrorist/index.html
