RAMSES: decision-aid for the security of the 1992 Winter Olympic Games

Over a million spectators descended on Albertville in France for the Winter Olympic Games in February 1992. Two billion more watched the Games on television. France was in the limelight, and everything had to run smoothly. The venue made security and safety very difficult. In the event of any calamity or accident, the security forces would have to be rapidly redeployed from their normal duties. If several incidents were to occur together, the situation would be unmanageable by conventional means, and a system to co-ordinate operations would be needed. RAMSES was this system. RAMSES is a new type of computer application, integrating expert systems, a GIS database and a resource allocation system on distributed hardware. Conceived for the management of security at large events, it could readily be applied to other circumstances in which the activities of separate teams with disparate skills must be coordinated. An example is the handling of environmental disasters. Yet RAMSES is a decision-aid and not a command and control system. Its task is to collate, interpret and display information, offering the human decision-maker the best expertise in evaluating it and devising his plan but leaving him firmly in control