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In March of 2016, Belgian authorities chose to adopt Dynamis Europe’s COBRA-based platform for their nationwide Incident and Crisis Management System (ICMS). The ICMS went into effect on January 1st, 2017 and now connects all Belgium cities, municipalities, provinces and federal authorities, as well as all ports, roads, high-risk companies, hospitals and other organisations of national significance to one comprehensive Common Operating Picture (COP).
Belgium uses COBRA as it’s single national repository for all emergency management related information. Each Belgian jurisdiction receives access to COBRA for managing their emergency management plans, exercise plans, After Action Reports (AARs), planning scenarios, national GIS layers, national vulnerable/critical facility layers, hospital bed status information, and more.
The goal of the use of COBRA was to to ensure the safety of cyclists, race teams, fans, local citizens and bystanders during the 2017 Tour de France by monitoring the progress of the cyclists as they passed through Belgian territory.
This event was characterized by several features that made guaranteeing a safe race environment particularly challenging. The two stages of the Tour that passed through Belgium lasted for two days and covered 258 total miles. Additionally, the cyclists were constantly on the move, traversing multiple municipalities and law enforcement jurisdictions.
The safety goal was achieved via a COBRA-enabled Common Operating Picture (COP) that employed blue-force tracker technology, allowing Belgian security forces to monitor the changing position of the cyclists as they passed through the country. Specialized, GPS and cellular network-enabled trackers were affixed to lead and tail police motorcycles that transited the race route immediately in front of and behind the cyclists. GPS data was sent to a Mobile Emergency Operations Center (MEOC) pre-positioned at the end of each race stage and to the IBZ headquarters.