eStorys: A visual storyboard system supporting back-channel communication for emergencies

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Journal of Visual Languages & Computing. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.In this paper we present a new web mashup system for helping people and professionals to retrieve information about emergencies and disasters. Today, the use of the web during emergencies, is confirmed by the employment of systems like Flickr, Twitter or Facebook as demonstrated in the cases of Hurricane Katrina, the July 7, 2005 London bombings, and the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic University. Many pieces of information are currently available on the web that can be useful for emergency purposes and range from messages on forums and blogs to georeferenced photos. We present here a system that, by mixing information available on the web, is able to help both people and emergency professionals in rapidly obtaining data on emergency situations by using multiple web channels. In this paper we introduce a visual system, providing a combination of tools that demonstrated to be effective in such emergency situations, such as spatio/temporal search features, recommendation and filtering tools, and storyboards. We demonstrated the efficacy of our system by means of an analytic evaluation (comparing it with others available on the web), an usability evaluation made by expert users (students adequately trained) and an experimental evaluation with 34 participants.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Banco Santander

The Geoweb for community-based organizations: Tool development, implementation, and sustainability in an era of Google Maps

Recent advances in web-based geospatial tools (the Geoweb) show promise as low-cost and easy-to-use methods to support citizen participation. This research presents two case studies of Geoweb implementation set in community-based organizations in rural Quebec, Canada. When comparing the development and sustainability of each Geoweb tool, the implementation time frame plays a key role. Two implementation time frames are defined; a discrete, or ‘one-off’ time frame associated with lower resource requirements, and a continuous, or ongoing time frame, that has a higher total resource cost, but can fulfill a different set of goals than a discrete implementation

Exploring Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) for Emergency Management: Toward a Wiki GIS Framework

The past three years have witnessed unprecedented growth of user-generated volunteered geographic information (VGI) on the Web. Although scholars, decision makers, and citizens have recognized the potential value of VGI in emergency management, there exists no rigorous study on the availability, quality, and feasibility of VGI for applications related to emergency management. This dissertation applies methodologies of GIScience and computer science to present an overview of VGI and explore its value in emergency management with the goal of developing a wiki GIS approach for community emergency preparedness. This dissertation research concludes that VGI and wiki GIS represent new development in public participation in the production and use of geographic information. In emergency management, VGI and wiki GIS suggest a new approach to incorporate the general public in emergency response activities. By incorporating VGI in emergency management, official agencies and the general public gain better situational awareness in emergency management

FOSS4G 2016 Proceedings: Academic Program - selected papers and posters

This Conference Proceedings is a collection of selected papers and posters submitted to the Academic Program of the International Conference for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G 2016), 24th to 26th August 2016 in Bonn, Germany. Like in previous FOSS4G conferences on national and international level the academic papers and posters cover an extensive wide range of topics reflecting the contribution of the academia to this field by the development of open source software components, in the design of open standards, in the proliferation of web-based solutions, in the dissemination of the open principles important in science and education, or in the collection and the hosting of freely available geo-data

Mashing-up Maps: Google Geo Services and the Geography of Ubiquity

How are Google geo services such as Google Maps and Google Earth shaping ways of seeing the world? These geographic ways of seeing are part of an influential and problematic geographic discourse. This discourse reaches hundreds of millions of people, though not all have equal standing. It empowers many people to make maps on the geoweb, but within the limits of Google's business strategy. These qualities, set against the state-centeredness of mapmaking over the last six hundred years, mark the Google geo discourse as something noteworthy, a consumer-centered mapping in a popular geographic discourse. This dissertation examines the Google geo discourse through its social and technological history, Google's role in producing and limiting the discourse, and the subjects who make and use these maps.Doctor of Philosoph

Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies

Outlines the challenges of and recommendations for creating an effective interface between humanitarian groups and volunteer and technical communities aggregating, visualizing, and analyzing data on and from affected communities to support relief efforts

Social Media Role in Relieving the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis

This research explores the possibilities and limitations associated with utilizing new media technologies in relieving humanitarian crises by focusing on the Rohingyan case. The main interest is to approach a conceptual communication framework based on the current Rohingya refugees’ perceptions about social media networks and mobile apps and the potential suggestions to optimize its usefulness in relieving their crisis. Addressing the obstructive challenges that interrupt the new media technologies functionality is another objective of the study. The mixed methodology interlaces the qualitative findings of the questionnaire with the qualitative outcomes of the semi-structured interviews to reach an inclusive investigation to the research questions. An examination to the significance of relationships between Rohingya demographic attributes and their preferences and perceptions toward social media platforms and mobile apps is substantial to explore the dominant factors that may influence the relationship between the Rohingya and different media platforms. Keywords: social media, mixed methods, Rohingya, humanitarian crises DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/87-04 Publication date: January 31st 202