--- Geocove, Inc., the Orlando firm whose ARM-360® GIS system for disaster relief officials helped Osceola County, Kissimmee and St. Cloud win the prestigious Florida Local Government Information Systems Assn. (FLGISA) 2012 Technology Achievement Award recently, has earned contracts to provide ARM360® GIS systems to three Florida counties and one in North Carolina.

Karyn Tareen, president and chief executive officer of Geocove, Inc., said the ARM360® system allows county disaster officials to provide accurate and comprehensive disaster assessments within hours of a cataclysmic event such as a hurricane, tornado or firestorm.

Designed by Geocove engineers, ARM360® is a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based application that allows field assessors from each municipality to report real-time findings to a centralized Emergency Operating Center (EOC).

“ARM360® enables local and remote decision makers to allocate resources quickly and efficiently,” Tareen explained.

Within the past 90 days Sarasota, Highlands and Gulf counties in Florida have deployed Geocove’s ARM360® system, as has Onslow County, North Carolina.

“Most U.S. municipalities have invested in GIS systems to identify and inventory their assets,” Tareen said.

“Geocove’s ARM360® system helps them leverage their GIS investment so that digital maps rich in locally maintained data are instantly available to disaster assessors in the field on their mobile computers,” she said.

“With a couple of clicks, they can report the percentage of damage they observe for buildings and properties,” she said.

“Call centers use the same maps and data to log caller-reported damage and to provide callers with disaster information such as shelter locations, points of distribution, outages, road blocks, and so on,” she said.

Earlier this year Geocove partnered with Florida’s Lee County to develop a sophisticated GIS-based disaster management system that won the 2012 Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference Public Information Award.

Geocove is a member of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program in the Central Florida Research Park in East Orange County.

For more information contact:  

Karyn Tareen, President/CEO, Geocove, Inc., 407-210-3925 ext. 1, ktareen@geocove.com

Carol Ann Dykes, Site Manager, UCF Business Incubator-Central Fla. Research Park, 407-207-7426, carolann.dykes@ucf.edu

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications Inc 407-644 4142 lvershelco@aol.com

About Geocove

Geocove, Inc. provides scalable assessment solutions built using the power of GIS across a multitude of industries.  The Geocove team has extensive experience in providing assessment, reporting and mapping tools for emergency management, building officials, public health and other government agencies as well as utilities and other private industries.  Geocove, Inc., a privately held corporation located in central Florida, is an authorized partner of Esri, the world’s leading GIS software provider.  Please visit www.geocove.com or www.facebook.com/geocove.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 200 emerging companies (including more than 134 current clients) create over $363 million in annual total economic output and more than 3,120 new jobs (taking direct and indirect and induced impact into account) with an average salary of $59,000. With ten facilities across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development among the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Apopka, the City of Winter Springs, the City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Volusia County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.  For more information about the Program and its clients and graduates, please visit www.incubator.ucf.eduand UCFBIP on Facebook, on www.facebook.com/ucf4bip.