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Close to 25 years ago, New Light Technologies Inc. (NLT) was founded to provide support around information science and technology and a range of integrated mission-oriented consulting, research, and modernization services. NLT started with a focus around the Washington D.C. area but rapidly expanded to where they are today, supporting organizations around the United States as well as abroad. While a lot of their work involves the analytics around geospatial data, that is not the full extent of their work, also providing support around IT, cyber security, and cloud management. NLT Chief Scientist Ran Goldblatt summed up their work to Geo Week News by saying they generally “provide support in a wide range of domains ranging from geoanalytics and remote sensing to data science, cloud managed services and cyber security, software, and system engineering among others.”
Today, Goldblatt says that most of their work is done with federal agencies, for example, FEMA, the Census Bureau, and USDA. It’s not limited to these government agencies, however, with other examples around NGOs, academia, and non-profits. For example, Goldblatt relayed one project NLT is working on in collaboration with UNICEF and the University of California, San Diego where they are developing an AI model to help predict dengue fever outbreaks in Latin America, leveraging remote sensing data along with other socioeconomic and environmental data. Additionally, he relays they have been working with the World Bank for a variety of projects around tracking progress in developing nations, again using remote sensing and other geospatial data.
“We work across the board – federal agencies, non-profits, NGOs, for-profit private companies,” Goldblatt noted. “We’re a small business, but we are working with the biggest firms.”
Origins of IMPACT
Amid all of the various types of work and offerings NLT boasts, their Incident Management, Prioritization, Alerting, and Coordination Tool, or IMPACT, is among their flagships. The platform, which leverages a wide range of geospatial datasets, supports the entire lifecycle of a disaster or incident response operation, from preparation and planning to response and recovery.
Goldblatt has been involved in the creation and deployment of IMPACT since the beginning, telling Geo Week News that it started as an offering developed specifically for FEMA`s needs. He said that the agency has always used satellite and aerial imagery, but there has always been the question of: Where and when do we collect the data, and what type of data should emergency managers collect based on the potential trajectory and impacts of a storm or other disaster. He explains that this work requires tasking ahead of time, which starts multiple days in advance.
Starting with this problem, NLT got to work on developing a tool for FEMA to help them prioritize the collection of satellite imagery. This original system was called POST – Prioritizing Operation Support Tool – but other divisions across FEMA saw the tool and wanted to use it for other purposes, like prioritizing search and rescue operations, prioritizing damage assessment efforts, and resource allocation during disasters. NLT got to work on making the tool more accessible for all of these different use cases as part ofthe IMPACT framework that is available for customers today.
How IMPACT Works
IMPACT integrates a wide range of data types, including satellite imagery, live geospatial data, publicly available open-source datasets from organizations like NOAA, and additional data from various partners.
All of this, in Goldblatt’s words, “helps agencies understand the nature of disasters and incidents and the impacts of who will be affected.”
The geospatial data feeds are combined with other data, such as structures in the area and socioeconomic data for the surrounding communities, to give agencies a full picture of the potential impact of a disaster or other incident. For example, using this tool gives agencies a clear picture of what types of vulnerable populations could be impacted, or what critical infrastructure assets could be in the path of the incident.
It should be noted that, while much of the focus for this kind of solution can often be on the preparation and response around natural disasters, IMPACT can be utilized for other types of incidents as well. For example, Kari Primiano, a Product Solutions Engineer with NLT, points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a different kind of scenario for this product, as well as the potential of environmental and socio-economic factors on the distribution of aspects of mental health. With IMPACT, she says, agencies can create heat maps for mental health crises in an area to give insights on the most impacted in vulnerable areas and use those insights to prioritize an effective response.
Flexible Implementation Options
Given all of these different types of uses, it’s clear that this tool does not need to be limited to federal and local agencies. Primiano points to the insurance and utility sectors as others for whom IMPACT could be particularly relevant. She also notes that there are two different types of offerings customers can utilize with IMPACT.
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“We have a standardized version, which can be used across a lot of different verticals,” she told Geo Week News. “And then we also have a more customized version, where if a company is specifically interested in, let’s say wildfires, we can tailor it specifically to those needs. The standardized version enables a larger audience and community to be involved in the analytics (view, interpret) that are produced by IMPACT, while the customized version allows companies to be able to tailor the tool to exactly what they’re looking for.”
She goes on to explain that NLT’s involvement after implementation within an organization is also largely up to the organization’s wants and needs. IMPACT is designed with an API-first design in mind, so if an organization has the infrastructure in place they can use it as a plug-in to whatever model they want. However, if not, NLT can be along throughout an incident to help manage the insights from IMPACT and ensure the organization is getting what they need from it.
IMPACT has already proven its value in real-world applications with organizations like FEMA and the Louisiana Department of Health, where it has been instrumental in improving disaster response and resource prioritization. FEMA has been utilizing a version of IMPACT to assess the impacts of hurricanes and other natural disasters, identifying vulnerable populations and critical infrastructure in the affected regions, which enabled faster and more targeted deployment of resources.
Similarly, the Louisiana Department of Health leveraged their version of IMPACT to enhance preparedness strategies, using the platform’s geospatial analytics to predict cascading effects on healthcare facilities during emergencies. “IMPACT turns data into decisive action for a resilient future,” explains Primiano. By combining real-time data, intuitive reporting, and actionable intelligence, IMPACT has empowered these organizations to make informed decisions under pressure, showcasing its adaptability to diverse scenarios and user needs.
IMPACT continues to be developed, with existing features continually being refined to better serve users. One key feature is its alerting system, which notifies managing staff within an organization of incidents as they occur or are projected to occur, ensuring timely and informed decision-making.Goldblatt also calls out their ongoing work around cascading impacts, which is expected to take an incident and predict its effects in other areas, such as on healthcare facilities or transportation. The goal is to make it as useful for all types of users at any stage of a response to a disaster or incident.
“Originally, IMPACT was developed for natural disaster management,” Goldblatt said. “But our aim is to make it a holistic framework for incident management and prioritization. So whenever there’s an incident, whether it’s a natural disaster, man-made disaster, pandemic, whatever, we want to develop tools that will help decision-makers prioritize their response using IMPACT.”
Do you want to learn more about IMPACT? Come by our booth, number 507, at Geo Week 2025.
Matt Collins is a Content Specialist at Geo Week. Prior to joining Diversified Communications, Matt covered the world of baseball and other sports for over a decade. When not writing he enjoys learning about new developments in the world of technology, spending time outdoors, and reading.