Polish Cartographical Review Vol. 52, 2020, no. 4, pp. 176–186 DOI: 10.2478/pcr-2020-0015 Received: 07.02.2021 Accepted: 28.02.2021 KATARZYNA SITEK, WOJCIECH POKOJSKI, IZABELA GOŁĘBIOWSKA University of Warsaw Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-3473-3512; [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-4307-7054; [email protected] Evaluation of time availability of the selected rescue service of a large city. A case study of Warsaw Abstract. This article presents the GIS analysis of time availability of the Voivodship Emergency Ambulance and Sanitary Transport Station operates an Independent Public Health Care Facility “Meditrans” in Warsaw. The research focuses on determining the level of service for residents in each district with the emergency service station. In addition, an attempt was made to improve accessibility on the example of three selected districts. The authors attempt to select methodology of planning the location of the emergency service station in order to optimize the level of service for residents. Keywords: time availability, emergency service, time isolines, Warsaw 1. Introduction for emergency vehicles. Therefore, it is parti- cularly important to develop and improve the For all emergency response teams caring for already known methods of analyzing the avail- safety and providing assistance in emergen- ability of the emergency service in a large city cies, travel time to the place of the accident is and also considering possible scenarios: the of key importance. The rapid response time of consequences of changing the location of this the service significantly increases the chances service’s stationing using currently available of successful intervention. This is primarily due GIS tools and data. This study is an attempt at to the knowledge of the spatial location of a multi-stage analysis of the availability of emergency services, which must reach the emergency services in the area of a large me- event in the shortest possible time. The rela- tropolitan city on the example of Warsaw. tionship described above presents the issue of time availability and it is one of the important 2. Research on the time availability examples of the use of GIS systems in emer- gency services. Nowadays, the possibilities F. Galton is considered as the author of the of geographical information systems allow to first study of time accessibility, who created the analyze the effectiveness of a given rescue map “Isochronic Passage Chart for Travelers” service, among others in terms of the level of in 1881. The London’s accessibility in days, from service to potential patients, as well as the di- anywhere in the world, was presented with versity of time availability depending on the isolines, called by the author as isochrones. place of stationing and the potential change of The map of F. Galton was particularly helpful the location of the emergency service station. to traders, who, due to London function at that These factors affecting the effectiveness of the time, traveled to the city. service are a significant challenge, especially Over the next decades, the subject of time for large urban areas, where the issue of passing accessibility was developed by geographers through a crowded city is a big challenge, even and cartographers, followed by planners. In Evaluation of time availability of the selected rescue service of a large city... 177 Poland the research was highly affected by W. Sobczyk 1985). The latest studies include politics and undergoing changes taking place GIS methods (E. Bielecka and A. Filipczak 2010, in the country. Origins of these studies can be P. Śleszyński 2014, J. Burdziej 2016, 2019) simi- found in the interwar period (W. Pietrusiewicz larly to the investigations conducted in other 1996). Accessibility studies focused then mainly countries (N. Street 2006, C. Schurmann 2010). on socio-economic issues, tourism and commu- The multiplicity and complexity of factors nication of the population (W. Kubijowicz 1923, that play role in the issue of time availability W. Rewieńska 1929, M. Rowicki 1934, E. Bo- analysis, requires the selection of appropriate czar 1933, J. Wąsowicz 1934). methods. The review of research on time ac- After World War II, research on time accessi- cessibility indicates three main methodological bility was forced mainly by intensive industria- approaches (tab. 1), which take into account lization and urbanization of the country (Z. Baja various source materials and address various 1948, A. Gawryszewski and S. Pietkiewicz 1966, aspects of time accessibility in emergency C. Ziembowa 1969, W. Maciejewski 1973, services. Table 1. Most frequently applied methods in studies on time availability (own study) Method Description Sample publications Interpolation − based on connecting points F. Kara, I. Egresi 2013; with the same time values; H. Miller, Y. Wu 2000; − a method adequate for use E. Bielecka, A. Mościcka, J. Tomala 2014; with a sufficiently dense grid J. Burdziej 2016; of measuring points; K. Podkonieczny, J. Tomala, A. Mościcka 2017 − various interpolation methods (e.g. IDW, Spline, Kriging, TIN) Network analysis − ready-use modules for network P. Cichociński, E. Dębińska 2012; analysis; Ł. Wielebski 2012 − based on choosing the shortest route by distance or time from a given place, taking into account the given conditions 2SFCA − testing the demand (the potential M. McGrail 2012; number of people who want to use M. Liam, J. Struthers, M. Schootman 2012; the services of a given facility) and M. Stępniak 2013; supply (the number of services that S. Kanuganti, A. Sarkar, A. Singh 2014; the medical facility has to offer); S. Wiśniewski 2015; − easy comparability of results within N. Maloo et al. 2014 the studied area; − inaccurate results on peripheral parts of the study area Modifications to the 2SFCA method E2SFCA − takes into account the unequal J. Ni et al. 2015 relationship between demand and supply 3SFCA − takes into account the surroundings N. Wan, B. Zou 2012; of other medical facilities providing S. Wiśniewski 2016; medical services at the same / P. Panda, V. Ranga 2014 different level MC2SFCA − demand is determined by B. Lin et al. 2016 a complex indicator, not one factor 178 Katarzyna Sitek, Wojciech Pokojski, Izabela Gołębiowska The most popular classic methods of time the place of residence, it is difficult to estimate availability presentation include the isochron the real number of people residing in Warsaw, method, which is based on interpolation of points in which the Voivodship Emergency Ambulance of equal values. According to the classification and Sanitary Transport Station operates an Inde- (W. Schjering 1903, J. Riedel 1911), isochrones pendent Public Health Care Facility (WSPRiTS take into account the direction of determining “Meditrans” SPZOZ). It is considerably larger – outside or inside the analyzed area as well number than indicated by the official statistics. as the number of starting points – monocentric As suggested by the calculations on the or polycentric isochrones. basis of the mobile phones log-in database in Nowadays, maps are usually published in May 2018, the number of people in Warsaw on digital format and it is constantly developed in working days during the daytime can be in aver- terms of technology, which translates into the age 2,275,000 during the day, and 2,070,000 creation of an interactive cartographic visuali- at night. (P. Śleszyński, M. Niedzielski 2018). zation system. An example of the Traffigram These values exceed the official statistics pro- method presents an innovative combination of vided by the Statistics Poland (central statisti- algorithms for calculating the shortest distances cal office in Poland). when interactive isochronous maps are dis- These results are similar to those obtained played (C. Aragon. R. Hong 2014). A similar in reported here study (stage 2). According to study was created as part of the Mapumental the assessment of the calculations carried out project, which provides a map of Great Britain on the basis of the usable area and area re- showing the real time of travel to the selected sources per capita in individual districts, the address, identified by the postal code. number of people in Warsaw is 2,162,000 people, Previous studies focused on the subject of which is a difference of only 92 thousand of time availability of rescue services usually people comparing to the number concerning refer only to determining the time of arrival of the night-time population given above. the service to the incident place. However, it is The statute, goals and tasks, organization as reasonable to measure the effectiveness of well as economy are determined in the resolu- a rescue services not only on the basis of arrival tion No. 3/2007 of January 8, 2007. Emergency time, but also by including the number of people medical teams are divided into (1) specialized who rescue services can help. The lack of com- and (2) basic teams. The specialist teams bination of these two most important aspects consist of at least three authorized persons, of the time availability analysis in the available including a physician and a nurse or a paramedic. studies prompts an attempt to determine the The basic teams consist of at least two author- methodology for the example of a large city ized persons, including a nurse or a paramedic with varying degrees of urbanization. (WSPRiTS “Meditrans” SPZOZ 2019). “Meditrans” service stations are currently lo- 3. Analysis of the time availability cated in 14 districts of Warsaw and are subject of a large city to regionalization, which means that they ope- rate only within the district in which they are 3.1. Study area located. Administrative units (districts) in which the station “Meditrans” does not work is mainly Warsaw is considered as a global metro- the outskirts of Warsaw (districts of Rember- polis1 and its official population currently exceeds tów, Wesoła, Wilanów and Włochy).