With Australian summers becoming hotter and wetter than average each year, emergency response teams are gearing up for one of their most challenging seasons yet. But extreme weather events will not be the only threat over the coming months. This year sees COVID-19 presenting a compounding pressure on emergency response organisations who are already struggling to meet the demand of the pandemic as it takes hold of society. Ambulances are running at full capacity; police are patrolling to keep restrictions under control – all the while the fire and flood season is looming.
Now more than ever, emergency services organisations are turning to data and technology to ensure their systems are optimised in the face of a busy season ahead. Join us for When Health and Weather Events Collide: Digital Preparedness for Australian Emergencies where we will speak with industry leaders to hear how they are preparing their systems to cope with pressure from both health and weather events in the 2021 and 2022 summer season.
- Hear about the expectations for the season ahead from emergency services industry peers and how optimised technology can improve response times
- Learn about the most relevant datasets available to feed into CAD systems
- Understand how geospatial technology can be leveraged to it’s full potential to assist drivers in-cabin
Recording
Panellists

Ross Caldow
Industry Specialist / HERE Technologies
For over 25 years Ross has driven a vast array of innovations in the Australian geospatial industry. Delivering solutions within the utilities, emergency management, higher education, public sector and transportation industries he had led award-winning transformative solutions that are today relied upon by millions of Australians.
Ross has been with HERE Technologies for the past seven years where he is responsible for customer engagement across Australia and New Zealand.
Ross has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Computing, both from Deakin University, along with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Cartography from RMIT.


Jeeten Chauhan
General Manager / Next Mile Location Technology
Jeeten has a wealth of experience in the geospatial industry. Shortly after graduating from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Science, majoring Optoelectronics, he saw an opportunity to pursue his passions in business, technology, and science with Esri Australia. From there he spent several years at the Perth and Sydney-based geospatial consultancy NGIS, where he perfected the skill of turning complex business situations into clear business outcomes through the use of maps, location data and mass scale computing power. Jeeten is now General Manager at Next Mile Location Technology, a HERE Technologies distributor for Australia and New Zealand.


Dan Paull
Head of Government & Infrastructure, Oceania / HERE Technologies
Dan’s career reflects his passion for location data and its ability to enable innovation and better economic and social outcomes. He’s an experienced, executive leader with a successful career in dynamic, data and technology-driven commercial businesses.
He has over 25 years experience in the geospatial industry and says he has been privileged to be part of a sector driving enormous change and innovation. The emergence of mobile technologies and the Internet of Things has transformed and expanded how location data is generated and consumed.
In joining HERE Technologies in 2021, he is eager to apply his experience in working with government and industry to assist them in unlocking the true value of location as fundamental infrastructure for a digital world.
When it comes to location technology, Dan believes that the best is yet to come, that location data remains a great untapped resource and he’s excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.
Dan joined HERE Technologies in March 2021 after concluding twenty years with the governments’ owned location data and services business, Geoscape Australia. During his time as CEO with the company Dan oversaw the development of significant national data products included the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF) and Australia’s firs national buildings footprint dataset. His determination and vision saw the unfunded, commercial entity grow from one employee in 2001 to a staff of 60 in 2020.


Rafid Morshedi
Associate Data Scientist / Engineer / WSP
Rafid is an Associate data scientist / engineer with WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering professional services consulting firms. He specialises in helping clients transform data into insights that can be used to make better decisions. He has a broad range of experiences gained from working in both the private and public sectors, ranging from building statistical deterioration models for rail bridges, examining the risk of climate change to supply chains, to building machine learning applications to examine 3rd party development risks to future rail projects.
Rafid is also a member of the NSW Cave Rescue Squad, which is a specialised unit of the Volunteer Rescue Association - one of several volunteer emergency services in NSW. During the 2019/20 bushfire season there was a need for emergency services personnel with specialised GIS/mapping/analytics experience. Whilst trained for vertical rescue, Rafid deployed as a volunteer to assist RFS incident management teams in using data to inform firefighting responses and in an operational setting. The combination of experience from engineering consulting being applied to an operational emergency management scenario led to some interesting insights.
Rafid works for WSP. WSP are technical experts and strategic advisors including engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, surveyors, environmental specialists, as well as other design, program and construction management professionals. WSP design lasting Property & Buildings, Transportation & Infrastructure, Resources (including Mining and Industry), Water, Power and Environmental solutions, as well as provide project delivery and strategic consulting services.
Whilst working in a volunteer capacity to assist the RFS, WSP provided additional paid leave to Rafid to sponsor his deployment.
