Disaster Response on the Web

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The use of the Web and other networked technologies for disaster response is a hot topic, especially in nations like the US where such technologies are prevalent. Response on the Web has varied from insistence that everyone should use Twitter in disasters, to problems with signal to noise in crowdsourced search and rescue. Since maps and geospatial data play critical roles in disaster response, we spent a lab meeting discussing how web maps and webGIS have contributed. Read on for the collection of links and random thoughts.

Darfur in Google Earth

Tim walked us through the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Crisis in Darfur Google Earth layers, which feature photos, stories, and the locations of destroyed villages. The purpose seems to be to inform the population of Google Earth users about the extent of the crisis, and channel them toward the responses recommended by the USHMM.

Katrina

We also discussed the imagery of Katrina's aftermath that was collected and shown on Google Earth very soon after the storm (and has been suspended at the time of this writing). This NYTimes article suggests the effort began with Google Earth users assembling imagery that NOAA had collected and released, but doesn't mention any data collected at Google behest. Forbes also has a good article. Several mashups, including Scorpionus.com, played a role in the response, and there was a apparently a significant effort by the open source GIS community to collect and distribute imagery, though I haven't seen much media coverage of it or any evidence of its use [please pass it along if you find some].

SoCAL Fires of 2007 and other Fires

We've talked about a few maps made in response to the fires on this blog, including maps by

None of us knew whether any of these maps were used by people on the ground, which seemed like one of the purposes of the Google Maps, as they were created while the fires were burning and seemed to be regularly updated with fresh data. I would also argue that one of the most important maps of the fires was the MODIS imagery of the smoke plumes that made it into a lot of the popular news, at least in terms of communicating the magnitude of the disaster. Shasta also showed us maps made by NorthTree Fire International. I also talked briefly about the use of Twitter in disseminating information about the fires. Individuals and the Red Cross were both using Twitter to publish updates about the fires that could have been used in real time response, but it's still unclear how much these sources were actually used.

Cosco Butan Oil Spill of 2007

There have been a few interesting maps made in response to the oil spill in the Bay, including

Summary

Web responses to disasters take many forms, and serve several purposes. One interesting trend is the increasing ease of publishing geodata about disasters on the Web. Ten years ago, only governments would have the resources to quickly collect and disseminate imagery and ground-based data. With Katrina we saw a philanthropically motivated private sector achieve similar results based on existing business relationships (Google and imagery collection companies) and existing data infrastructure (Google Earth, Google Maps). Now we are seeing organizations with even fewer technological resources collecting and distributing data using mashups and web mapping tools like Google My Maps. There are even individuals who have made potentially important contributions during disasters (e.g. Nate Ritter during the 2007 SoCal fires, and Kathryn Cramer during Katrina). One issue that I find important in all these mapping efforts is that of trust. How much do you trust data from NOAA, Google, your local public radio station, or some programmer obsessed with microblogging? How useful is a large, crude polygon showing oil slick sightings?

Some more links we didn't discuss

Landsat 5 Struggling

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After more than two decades of service, Landsat 5 is showing signs of its age. Early Saturday, October 6, 2007, the Landsat 5 Flight Operations Team (FOT) noted that battery #2 was automatically taken off-line the previous evening. All imaging was stopped in order to conserve power. This will have implications for Landsat 7 imagery as well, as the scan line drops are corrected with Landsat 5 data. If this problem is not correct it will not be until 2011, when Landsat 8 is expected to launch, that we will have new Landsat data.

World According to Google on KQED

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"This program artfully explores the ethical and philosophical questions surrounding the work of one of today's most innovative enterprises. In this documentary, Google divulges its process of hiring the brightest in the industry and gives us a glimpse into its Mountain View, California and London offices. Vint Cerf, dubbed the "Father of the Internet" and Google insider since 2004, shows us the inner workings of a powerhouse company that began as a research project by two 20-something Ph.D candidates at Stanford. With its company motto "Don't Be Evil," Google appears to have the best of intentions. But some worry that Google is slowly becoming Big Brother, keeping track of users and making editorial decisions about the information it provides." Link KQED Channel 9Tue, Oct 30, 2007 -- 9:00 pm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saw a preview for this today, had a quick clip of Google Earth, it will be interesting to see if they address some of the privacy and data censorship issues we've discussed over the last few months. Cheers, Josh

Satellite Photos Show Cleansing of Syrian Site

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Satellite imagery of a facility in Syria collected on August 5, 2007, left, and October 24.
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: October 26, 2007
The New York Times

New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site believed to have been attacked by Israel last month no longer bears any obvious traces of what some analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor. Read More (NYTimes). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I found it interesting how traditionally "filtered" news relating to wars/conflict found more accountability to the public after the integration of global communication systems into society. We saw it during the second Iraq War with "embedded" journalists, freelance journalism, and first hand accounts from soldiers utilizing digital cameras, cell phones, and blogs to relay uncensored information that once was filtered by those in power. With the availability of high spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery it seems the public has one more weapon to keep tabs on our government and others. Cheers, Josh

“Lonely Planet” Article in the Washington Post

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There is an article in the WashPost article today, spurred by the MODIS images of the southern California fires. It is interesting to see these MODIS images used so widely for what I think is the first time. The reporter gives his own take on an overview from the first satellites to Google Earth, and ends by saying that these technologies have allowed us to develop a "sense of the Earth as a whole." Not sure I agree, but an interesting take.

San Diego Fires on Google My Maps

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SD Fires on My MapsNick, a classmate of mine, pointed out this interesting use of Google My Maps for disaster reporting by KPBS News in San Diego. KPBS is also maintaining a Twitter stream for updates about the fires, which is the most useful potential use of Twitter I think I've seen. Has anyone seen any fire mapping systems on the web that integrate discussions? Requests for missing people, perhaps requests by evacuees for ground info on their homes?

Interactive images vs. webGIS

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I came across an interesting interactive image depicting wildfire occurrences across the U.S. -- this one is hosted by the AP news service. I have seen a lot of images like this over the past year or so; maps turned interactive images depicting a wide variety of information, particularly in the climate change arena. I find it interesting because, using the above referenced image as an example, it basically covers the same information that is available via a wildfire webGIS (which, unfortunately, seems to be down right now - maybe that answers my question!) developed by a consortium of federal agencies (GeoMAC). Because the information is so redundant (and comes from the same data sources), it seems, to me, to raise questions about the accessibility of web-based mapping sites -- are they seemingly too complicated, or do they contain too much information that doesn't relate directly to a story? Certainly the image format is easier to deal with from a development standpoint, and can be made pretty a little more easily, and it may just be the news media focus on graphics for particular issues/stories, but I still think it is interesting to see, and to think about how web maps can be made more useful as information resources.

Remote Sensing (a film by Ursula Biemann)

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Sarah Reed pointed this out to me. I wasn't able to go to the movie (which was screened on campus Monday night), but intrigued, I found some more information on Ursula's work at her website. I am concerned with and would be interested in your opinions on her contention that GIS/RS are linked to the sexualization and displacement of women on a global scale. This extends our discussion in last week's group meeting. This is a very serious topic.

Scientists Fear Curbs on Access to Satellite Data

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Science 14 September 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5844, p. 1481 DOI: 10.1126/science.317.5844.148

News of the Week

U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY: Scientists Fear Curbs on Access to Satellite Data

Yudhijit BhattacharjeeFor more than 3 decades, U.S. science agencies have used images taken by the nation's spy satellites to study everything from erupting volcanoes to the migration of marine mammals. Now, a new plan to expand the use of the satellites for homeland security and law enforcement has left some officials worried that science will suffer. Last month's announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it was setting up a new National Applications Office (NAO) this fall to widen the use of spy-satellite imagery has sparked protests from civil liberties advocates. They worry that federal, state, and local authorities will seek high-resolution, real-time images to monitor activities of U.S. citizens in the same way that the satellites help track terrorist activities overseas. But officials at federal science agencies are concerned for a different reason: They suspect that the new arrangement could mean fewer chances to investigate scientific questions or cause delays that undermine the value of the information. read more...

Satellite Images Reveal Burmese Atrocities

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I guess they're not just looking for lost hikers anymore..... Cheers, Josh Hamlet no more. A satellite image showing black scars in the middle of a forest confirm that a village in east Myanmar was burned down, most likely in a military raid earlier this year.Credit: 2007 DigitalGlobe By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee ScienceNOW Daily News 29 September 2007 The military dictatorship of Myanmar--also known as Burma--has consistently dismissed allegations of human-rights violations against ethnic minorities and other citizens. But new satellite images that show the charred remains of villages in east Myanmar and a buildup of refugees across the country's border with Thailand provide silent confirmation of those atrocities. Read more...