Field Operations

Overview#

When a major flooding event strikes an urban area, dozens of search-and-rescue teams fan out across sectors that rapidly lose mobile connectivity. The Field Operations module keeps those teams coordinated: commanders assign tasks and push sector maps to each unit before they go dark, offline caches sustain the mission while the teams work, and the moment a unit regains a network signal, status updates, casualty markers, and cleared-sector confirmations synchronise back to the central command picture automatically.

Field Operations is the module that connects command centres with deployed personnel across the full mission lifecycle. It provides a mobile-friendly geospatial operating picture, dynamic task and waypoint assignment, resilient offline capability, and live unit tracking. Whether the scenario is disaster response, public-safety policing, or multi-agency crisis management, the module ensures that every operator, at every clearance level, sees exactly the information they are authorised to act on, in real time or offline as conditions demand.

Key Features#

• Live Geospatial Picture: Aggregates real-time unit locations, asset positions, and incident markers onto an interactive map, giving commanders and field operators a shared, up-to-date view of the operational area.
• Task and Mission Assignment: Allows incident commanders to create tasks, attach digital briefings, set waypoints, and push the full package directly to individual units or teams, with status tracked centrally as work progresses.
• Offline Resilience: Caches map tiles, operational layers, active tasks, and recent alerts to local device storage so that operations continue uninterrupted in areas with degraded or absent connectivity, then synchronises automatically on reconnect.
• Secure Real-Time Tracking: Streams unit location, heading, and status to the command dashboard over encrypted channels, with configurable reporting intervals to balance situational awareness against battery and bandwidth constraints.
• Interactive Geofencing: Monitors unit movements against predefined operational zones, hazard perimeters, and restricted sectors, triggering alerts to both the unit and the command centre when boundaries are crossed.
• Clearance-Gated Visibility: Data displayed to each operator is filtered by their security clearance level, ensuring that sensitive operational details are visible only to personnel with the appropriate authorisation.
• Immutable Audit Trail: Every task assignment, status change, location report, and data access event is logged with the operator identity, timestamp, and full context, supporting post-incident review and compliance requirements.
• Multi-Agency Support: Isolates data and operational channels between different agencies and jurisdictions while enabling controlled information sharing through defined Communities of Interest, so coalition partners see what they need without cross-contamination.

Use Cases#

• Urban Search and Rescue: Teams use offline maps and pre-assigned sector tasks to systematically clear buildings after a disaster, syncing their findings to a central record as soon as connectivity is restored.
• Tactical Law Enforcement: Specialised units receive live objective updates and see the positions of all friendly forces on a shared map, reducing the risk of fratricide and improving coordinated entry timing.
• Mass-Casualty Event Coordination: Paramedic teams and triage commanders share a live picture of patient locations, unit assignments, and hospital routing, enabling dynamic reallocation of resources as the situation develops.
• Border and Maritime Patrol: Patrol vessels and ground units report positions and intercept events in real time, with geofence alerts triggered when assets enter or leave defined patrol corridors.
• Planned Ceremonial or Public Safety Operations: Commanders pre-assign patrol routes and communication checkpoints, monitor compliance against the plan, and push revised instructions when crowd dynamics require it.

Integration#

The Field Operations module works in concert with the broader platform: real-time location and geofence data feed directly into the unified command map, providing the foundational tracking layer for the operational picture. The alert management module consumes proximity events and hazard zone triggers generated by field units. The communications module delivers task notifications and briefing updates to deployed personnel across available channels, including push notification, in-app messaging, and radio-integration bridges. Audit and compliance records produced by Field Operations are available to the platform-wide audit trail for post-incident review and regulatory reporting.

Open Standards#

• OGC API Features (OGC 17-069): Geospatial feature data, including unit positions, waypoints, and operational zones, is exchanged using the OGC API Features standard, ensuring interoperability with GIS platforms and national mapping agencies.
• GeoJSON (RFC 7946): Operational layers, geofences, and incident markers are encoded as GeoJSON, the widely adopted open format for geographic data interchange over HTTP.
• MGRS / NATO Grid Reference System: Grid references for waypoints and sector assignments follow MGRS conventions, maintaining compatibility with NATO operational planning tools and paper-map workflows.
• STANAG 4559 (NATO ISREP): Imagery and reconnaissance reporting follows STANAG 4559 conventions where applicable, supporting interoperability with NATO intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance workflows.
• ETSI TS 103 357 (TETRA Interoperability): Integration with professional mobile radio networks and TETRA gateways follows ETSI standards, enabling field units equipped with TETRA radios to participate in the operational picture.
• W3C Geolocation API: Browser and mobile clients report unit positions using the W3C Geolocation API, ensuring consistent behaviour across devices and operating systems without proprietary location SDKs.
• ISO 22320 (Emergency Management): Incident command structures, task definitions, and coordination roles are modelled in alignment with ISO 22320, the international standard for emergency management command and control.
• TLS 1.3 (RFC 8446): All communications between field devices and the platform are secured with TLS 1.3, providing forward secrecy and resistance to downgrade attacks even on degraded or contested networks.

Availability#

• Enterprise Plan: Included
• Professional Plan: Available with a limit on concurrent tracked units; offline map caching and multi-agency COI features require upgrade to Enterprise.

Last Reviewed: 2026-05-26