computer science

InciWeb

InciWeb is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand InciWeb rather than just read about it. In short: InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident web information management system provided by the United States Forest Service released in 2004. It was originally developed for wildland fire emergencies, but can be also used for other emergency incidents (natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes).

Key takeaways

InciWeb belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect InciWeb to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of InciWeb from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident web information management system provided by the United States Forest Service released in 2004. It was originally developed for wildland fire emergencies, but can be also used for other emergency incidents (natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes).

Introduction

It was developed with two primary missions:

1. Provide the public a single source of incident related information 2. Provide a standardized reporting tool for the Public Affairs community Official announcements include evacuations, road closures, news releases, maps, photographs, and basic info and current situation about the incident. Incident information can be accessed by:

web browser at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/ Twitter RSS web feed

Technical The original application was hosted at the United States Forest Service - Wildland Fire Training and Conference Center, at McClellan Airfield, California, comprising three servers:

Database server Administrative server Load balancer for the public content which routes traffic to a pool of eight servers. Web traffic averages 2 million plus hits daily during the fire season with the ability to handle 3.5 million hits. The servers were moved to the National information Technology Center (NITC), Kansas City, Missouri on July 16, 2008, along with the release of version 2.0; the current version is 2.2.

Availability issues InciWeb was having technical difficulties due to the high volume of Internet users trying to access the site during the September–October 2006 Day Fire and the Summer 2008 California wildfires.

Participating agencies United States Forest Service Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Indian Affairs Fish and Wildlife Service National Park Service National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Department of the Interior Office of Aircraft Services National Association of State Foresters United States Fire Administration These same agencies are also in the National Interagency Fire Center.

See also Incident Command System Incident management

References

External links Inciweb official website Judith L. Downing, Ronald W. Hodgson, Jonathan G. Taylor, and Shana C. Gillette. Fire Information for Communities at Risk in Interface Wildfires: Lessons Learned From the 2003 Southern California Megafires. pages 135-152 in Fire Social Science Research From the Pacific Southwest Research Station: Studies Supported by National Fire Plan Funds. August 2008. United States Forest Service. InciWeb is mentioned on page 139, footnote 11.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with InciWeb

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what InciWeb claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to InciWeb before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about InciWeb ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of InciWeb

In research: InciWeb appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses InciWeb in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: InciWeb is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 establishments in the United States, Disaster preparedness in the United States, Emergency management software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for InciWeb outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study InciWeb in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what InciWeb means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain InciWeb out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is InciWeb in simple terms?

Why does InciWeb matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study InciWeb?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on InciWeb.