Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System
Encyclopedia
The Texas Special Needs Evacuation Tracking System (SNETS) is a tracking system for emergency evacuees developed by AT&T
for the state of Texas
.
The system is based on tracking RFID tags attached to the wrists of evacuees via the AT&T/Cingular wireless network and a data center at the University of Texas Center for Space Research. Evacuees are indirectly tracked using GPS locators mounted on the vehicles in which they are traveling.
The Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management (GDEM) awarded the contract to AT&T in December 2007. Parts of the system were deployed as early as 2006, prior to AT&T's involvement,
but AT&T has taken over overall responsibility for its operation. The system has been tested three times. Texas officials planned to use the system during Hurricane Dean
, but the storm changed course and missed Texas.
In 2008, SNETS is nominated in the Laureates Class of Computerworld Honors Program honoring those who uses Information Technology to benefit society.
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
for the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
The system is based on tracking RFID tags attached to the wrists of evacuees via the AT&T/Cingular wireless network and a data center at the University of Texas Center for Space Research. Evacuees are indirectly tracked using GPS locators mounted on the vehicles in which they are traveling.
The Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management (GDEM) awarded the contract to AT&T in December 2007. Parts of the system were deployed as early as 2006, prior to AT&T's involvement,
but AT&T has taken over overall responsibility for its operation. The system has been tested three times. Texas officials planned to use the system during Hurricane Dean
Hurricane Dean
The name Dean was used for five tropical cyclones in the Northern Atlantic Ocean:*1983's Tropical Storm Dean, which struck the coast of Virginia, causing minor erosion and flooding...
, but the storm changed course and missed Texas.
In 2008, SNETS is nominated in the Laureates Class of Computerworld Honors Program honoring those who uses Information Technology to benefit society.