The concept for Situational Analyst Montana (SAM) was created in early 2013 while trying to obtain an accurate accounting of the physical area of the state affected by wildfires.  From there it has branched out to how state agencies can maintain their situational awareness of incidents in local jurisdictions, how local agency personnel in the field could capture information, and how everyone in between could quickly interact with it.  Simply put, how can you see everything in one place!

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) had a project in testing known collectively as the Enterprise Geospatial Portal (EGP) which contains a component known as Situation Analyst from Intterra.  Using the foundation built by NIFC we worked with Intterra to develop a concept for branching out Situation Analyst into an all hazard product that could support the needs of agencies across Montana.

In Spring of 2013 the Montana County Fire Wardens Association applied for FFY13 Homeland Security Grant Program funding through the State of Montana.  The application was successful in securing funding for a 24 months worth of hosted service and development with Intterra.  In early 2014 a core group from Montana County Fire Wardens Association, Montana State Fire Chiefs Association, and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation began working with Intterra on making Situation Analyst Montana (SAM) live.

Our objective is to make SAM a one stop shop for all disciplines to access real time information from as many sources as possible during incidents as well as during routine activities.

SAM is available to all government agencies within Montana.  Being a proof of concept project, we expect to be changing and trying new features throughout the project.