The Problem

ResponseResearch, a Washington think-tank faced a problem: they had been hired by a government agency to assess the likely community response to a major disaster or attack at a sporting event. Maps and city blueprints had been studied before, but the models they suggested had proven invalid. ResponseResearch needed to approach the problem in a whole new way. Said Mark Bellam, lead consultant on the project, "We just couldn't base our recommendations on the same old set of assumptions about how people behave."

The Breakthrough

"When we saw what Rekana could do for us," Bellam said, "we realized we had a potential solution." The team decided to record the actual vehicle and traffic patterns from a series of actual events held at the stadium. Within one week of signing the contract, a Rekana satellite was in place, monitoring the stadium live.

Working with a group of trained interpreters and the powerful analysis software of Rekana, Bellam's team was able to watch the entire flow of people in and out of the stadium. Computers tracked the time to exit of each individual in the stadium, identifying trouble spots throughout the city. Anaylsts flagged special vehicles, such as police and paramedic units, to see how they navigated the gridlock. In all, over 400 gigabytes of data was gathered, recorded, and processed in the project.

The Solution

After just three nights, ResponseResearch had enough data to conclusively refute the old traffic flow models. A new plan for evacuation and emergency access was formulated and delivered to the city and government panels. The plan was so well received, ResponseResearch has contracts from three additional cities already.

"The analysis tools available to us through Rekana were just as important as the actual data gathering. We could have used planes or helicopters to record the video, but it would have taken us months -- if not years -- to organize and asses the results. Rekana had answers for us in hours."

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