An information assistant system for the prevention of tunnel vision in crisis management

In the crisis management environment, tunnel vision is a set of bias in decision makers’ cognitive process which often leads to incorrect understanding of the real crisis situation, biased perception of information, and improper decisions. The tunnel vision phenomenon is a consequence of both the challenges in the task and the natural limitation in a human being’s cognitive process. An information assistant system is proposed with the purpose of preventing tunnel vision. The system serves as a platform for monitoring the on-going crisis event. All information goes through the system before arrives at the user. The system enhances the data quality, reduces the data quantity and presents the crisis information in a manner that prevents or repairs the user’s cognitive overload. While working with such a system, the users (crisis managers) are expected to be more likely to stay aware of the actual situation, stay open minded to possibilities, and make proper decisions

Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey

As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning. Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.Comment: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Journal, 201

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Fusion of Information and Analytics: A Discussion on Potential Methods to Cope with Uncertainty in Complex Environments (Big Data and IoT)

International audienceInformation overload and complexity are core problems to most organizations of today. The advances in networking capabilities have created the conditions of complexity by enabling richer, real-time interactions between and among individuals, objects, systems and organizations. Fusion of Information and Analytics Technologies (FIAT) are key enablers for the design of current and future decision support systems to support prognosis, diagnosis, and prescriptive tasks in such complex environments. Hundreds of methods and technologies exist, and several books have been dedicated to either analytics or information fusion so far. However, very few have discussed the methodological aspects and the need of integrating frameworks for these techniques coming from multiple disciplines. This paper presents a discussion of potential integrating frameworks as well as the development of a computational model to evolve FIAT-based systems capable of meeting the challenges of complex environments such as in Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT)

Knowledge-Intensive Fusion for Situational Awareness: Band Sultan Dam Failure Scenario

This report provides a detailed specification of a humanitarian relief scenario involving significant civil-military cooperation. The scenario aims to highlight some challenges and opportunities for semantic integration and knowledge processing in support of humanitarian relief efforts undertaken against a backdrop of military conflict. The scenario depicts an earthquake and associated flood event occurring in Afghanistan at the time of the US-led coalition effort to displace the former Taliban regime. The flood event occurs as a secondary phenomenon to the earthquake and precipitates a full-scale humanitarian relief effort co-opting the resources of both humanitarian and military agencies. This scenario will serve to showcase the capabilities of the AKTiveSA TDS with respect to enhanced situation awareness and improved information fusion. Such capabilities depend on the ability to exploit multiple sources of information and sophisticated query capabilities in order to expedite the dissemination of relevant information to executive agencies in a timely and appropriate fashion. The scenario narrative draws attention to some of the information requirements demanded by military and humanitarian decision makers in the context of complex emergency situations. It also serves to illustrate the critical knowledge processing capabilities of agents with respect to the assessment of disaster situations and relief effort planning. Finally, the scenario provides an indication of the requirements for visualization and interaction that should be afforded to end-user agents in order to optimise their exploitation of system capabilities. This report also provides background information about the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of humanitarian agencies with respect to disaster relief and reviews guidelines on the nature of civil-military coordination in the context of disaster relief efforts in conflict situations