USNG For Designating Areas of Operation

Implementation and integration of a geographic-based point and area reference system can be used to help both responders and decision makers provide order to the chaos of disaster operations. Such a system must be easily learned and uniform across disciplines and governmental entities. The system should enable decision makers to quickly establish areas of operation and define required resources necessary for deployment to conduct various missions such as search and rescue, emergency medical services, law enforcement, and mass care. A common reference system that is both a point and area reference grid is essential to providing situational awareness on the status of missions back to command staff.

Use of a common location language, which has long been the foundation of US military operations, drives an integrated common operational picture essential to changing outcomes for disaster survivors. In addition, integration of a referencing system such as the USNG across jurisdiction and discipline supports multi-agency disaster operations who often rely on EMAC or other force multipliers by providing a common language to define and assign areas of operation.


HOW TO DESIGNATE AREAS OF OPERATION
Specific and scalable operational areas can be identified using the

United States National Grid. Operational areas
are classified into three basic categories –strategic, regional & tactical. Strategic level operational areas are defined by 100,000 meter grid squares (62 miles) and provide a view more typically used by operatives at the state emergency operations center. Regional operational areas are generally
designated by 10,000 meter grid squares (6.2 miles) suitable for assignment to taskforces or similar forward command elements. Tactical areas of operation are typically designated by one or more 1,000 meter grid squares (.62 mile) and provide detailed information for direct tactical operations. Designation of operational
areas using the scalable USNG allows for consideration of type, strength, or availability of resources and degree of impact. In essence, one or more grid squares of any strategic, regional or tactical size can be identified together if designation of a larger operational area is desired.

This is indicative of the flexibility and scalable nature of the Grid, which makes it well suited to meet the needs of responders, field commanders and strategic level decision makers based on the complexity or severity of the disaster consequences


STRATEGIC AREAS OF OPERATION

The designation of one or more 100,000 meter grid squares should be used by command staff or decision makers such as a State Coordinating Officer (SCO) to designate strategic operational areas for the purposes of assessing damages, determining required resources, deploying assets, and monitoring disaster operations. These strategic level areas of operation also allow for solid situational awareness vertically across levels of government, such as the state/federal interface.

REGIONAL AREAS OF OPERATION

The SCO or other appropriate command staff should further break the impacted area down into manageable sectors by designating one or more 10,000 meter grid squares as regional areas of operation. Each regional operational area should be referred to by using the SW corner coordinate of the target operational area. Specific commanders should be assigned responsibility for operations within this area.

TACTICAL AREAS OF OPERATION

Area commanders or other appropriate forward command elements can then divide assigned regional areas of operation into 1,000 meter grid square(s) tactical operational areas and assign tactical response resources (US&R, LE, EMS, etc) responsibility for completing missions within assigned areas. As with both strategic and regional operational areas, tactical operational areas will be referred to by the SW corner coordinate of the target or assigned area. As noted previously, because the USNG is a uniform national system, resources that are arriving via EMAC request or federal agencies who are unfamiliar with the area can very quickly understand where their area of responsibility is located.