HERE Technologies and New South Wales’ Rural Fire Service enhance emergency response routing across remote fire trails
New mapping initiative creates a more complete routable network to support emergency responders across challenging terrain.
HERE Technologies, the world’s leading mapping and location data company, and New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), the world’s largest volunteer fire service with more than 68,000 volunteers, are demonstrating how advanced location intelligence can help emergency responders navigate more effectively across some of Australia's most challenging and remote landscapes.
Showcased at AFAC26, Australasia's largest emergency management and first responder conference and exhibition, the initiative reveals how HERE and NSW RFS are improving emergency access across some of Australia's most challenging and remote environments by creating a more robust routable map network that includes fire trails, private roads and other critical off-road access routes.
Extending emergency routing beyond public roads
NSW RFS protects approximately 95% of New South Wales and responds to thousands of incidents each year, including bushfires, grass fires, storms, search-and-rescue operations and vehicle accidents. Reaching incident locations quickly and safely often requires emergency crews to travel beyond traditional public road networks.
While public roads form the backbone of most navigation systems, a significant proportion of routes used by emergency responders consist of fire trails, off-road tracks and private roads that have historically been difficult to capture, maintain and integrate into navigation-ready mapping databases.
To address this challenge, HERE and NSW RFS are leveraging HERE’s mapping operations to combine HERE's advanced road network data with NSW RFS' extensive operational mapping data to create a unified and routable emergency response network.
Turning fire trails into actionable route guidance
Through the seamless integration of NSW RFS fire trail network, HERE has unlocked over 60,000km of fire trail network into operational use, covering Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Mobile Data Terminals (MDT). Such extensive mapping data is unavailable or insufficiently represented in traditional mapping systems. Combining these mapping datasets enable NSW RFS to have an extensive view of the entire NSW routable network, both on-road and off-road, for better planning, preparation, response and recovery.
"Emergency response depends on having the most accurate picture of the landscape possible," said Daniel Antonello, General Manager, Oceania, HERE Technologies. "Many of the routes used by emergency services every day are not conventional roads. By combining HERE's AI-powered location technology with NSW RFS' operational intelligence, we're helping create a more complete and actionable view of the road and trail network, enabling responders to search, locate and respond with greater confidence when every second counts."
Supporting faster, more informed emergency response
The enhanced mapping capability supports NSW RFS' broader digital transformation initiatives, including CAD, MDT and vehicle-specific navigation for fire appliances.
By incorporating fire trails, private roads and operational access routes into a routable map network, dispatchers and crews can receive more accurate and timely guidance to incident locations while accounting for the unique requirements of emergency response vehicles.
"Fire trails are a critical part of how we access and manage incidents across New South Wales," said RFS A/Director, ICT and Chief Information Officer Matthew White. "By bringing together our operational knowledge with HERE's mapping technology, we're building a richer and more comprehensive representation of the access network our crews rely on every day. This helps improve situational awareness and supports more informed decision-making in the field."
As emergency services continue to operate in increasingly complex environments, keeping these critical datasets current will help ensure responders have access to the most reliable route information available.
At AFAC26, HERE will showcase how emergency services can use advanced mapping technologies to integrate fragmented datasets, improve network completeness and deliver more effective routing and navigation for mission-critical operations.
About HERE Technologies
HERE is the global leader in mapping and location technology. For over 40 years, we've been powering innovation for the world's most recognizable companies: from launching our first digital map in 1985, to shaping the future of software-defined vehicles today. With the industry's freshest and richest unified map and a portfolio of products, services and solutions that serve the needs of multiple industries, HERE reveals opportunities that drive progress and unlock new possibilities for every moving vehicle. Discover more at here.com.