Document
OAS-28A (5/15)
Interagency Aviation
Information Bulletin
No. IA IB 21-08 August 4, 2021 Page 1 of 3 Subject: Accessing Automated Telemetry Unit (ATU) in the Fire Enterprise Geospatial Portal (EGP) Area of Concern: All Aviation operations Distribution: All Aviation Operations, Incident Planning Discussion: Automated Telemetry Unit (ATU) devices are installed on most USFS contracted aircraft to provide general locations of aerially applied water/fire retardant on an incident. The data is used to improve the documentation of effects through reporting, monitoring, and application coordination. ATU lines and points are to be used as approximations of where liquids are dropped from the aircraft. Since the data is recorded from the air, drift will likely place the footprint of the drop in a slightly different location than the actual application.
Important Notes: • This service is still under development and is intended to aid in situational awareness. False positives and omissions do exist. Field validation is recommended.
• Brief outages and delays will occur and may last up to 72 hours.
• The data feed from the Very Large Airtankers (VLATs) is currently unavailable. This data is expected to be available in the future once the provider makes the necessary JSON service adjustments.
• BLM Single Engine Airtankers (SEATs), State resources, or surge aircraft may not be equipped with ATU devices and will not display data in EGP.
What will you need to do to access the data?
• Request an EGP account at egp.nwcg.gov .
• Sign up using your government email address. All requests for EGP accounts are vetted by agency personnel for approval. Using your government email address assures a quick and easy process.
• Once you have an account use the EGP ‘How to’ document below to navigate to the aircraft intel tool for data viewing and data download..
No. IA IB 21-0 8 August 4, 2021 Page 2 of 3 Below is a brief outline on how to access imagery products in the EGP 1. Login to the EGP and Open the SituationAnalyst (SA) 2. Once the SituationAnalyst (SA) page loads, click on the “ ai ” button on the lower left side of the application.
3. A new screen will launch. Click the “av – aviation” button.
4. The SA Tool will refresh and load additional datasets. Let this process complete. Note: The “ai” button in the lower left has refreshed to “av”.
5. Once the IR Workspace has refreshed, click on the Layers button which is on the top 1/4 of the panel, left side of the application. Note: To appropriately view ATU data, zoom the map to the desired area of interest.
4. A new menu will display of Layers available. Select the ATU Retardant Drops layer to display data on your map. that has the information you are searching for.
No. IA IB 21-0 8 August 4, 2021 Page 3 of 3 7. Select the down arrow next to “ATU Retardant Drops” to reveal ATU layers based on time.
8. When the data sets have been defined, a map with pink lines and blue points will be displayed. Note: Different colored lines and points represent different timeframes of data.
9. To export the data for mapping purposes, click the gear icon on the right-hand side of the Layers setting. This will open a menu that will allow for a data download using the cloud/arrow icon.
10. Once the Export Map options have opened, select which layers you’d like exported, add an email address, and choose an export format. Scroll to the bottom and select “Export” to initiate the file.
11. The file, from which ATU data can be extracted, will be sent via email.
For additional questions, please contact: Zach Holder at 406- 214-6178, zachary.holder@usda.gov or Sean Triplett at 208-908-9153, sean.triplett@usda.gov /s/ Keith C. Raley /s/ Lori Clark Keith C. Raley Lori Clark Chief, Aviation Safety, Training, Program Detailed Branch Chief - Aviation Safety Evaluation, and Quality Management Management Systems DOI, Office of Aviation Services USDA, Forest Service