Today the added value of geoinformation for crisis management is well known and accepted. However, experiences show that disaster management units on local administrative levels in the developing world often lack the use of geographic information systems for analysing spatial interrelations and making their own maps. Various studies mention the shortage of financial resources, human capacity, and adequate knowledge as reasons for that. In recent years publically available virtual globes like Google Earth¿, Microsoft® Virtual Earth¿ or Nasa World Wind enjoy great popularity. The accessibility of worldwide high resolution satellite data, their intuitive user interface, and the ability to integrate own data support this success. In this paper, the potential of these new geospatial technologies for supporting disaster preparedness and response is demonstrated, using the example of Google Earth¿. Possibilities for the integration of data layers from third parties, the digitization of own layers as well as the analytical capacities are examined. Furthermore, a printing module is presented, which supports the production of paper maps based on data previously collected and edited in Google Earth¿. The efficiency of the proposed approach is demonstrated for a disaster management scenario in Legazpi, a Philippine city exposed to several natural hazards due to the vicinity to Mayon volcano and the annually occuring typhoons in the region. With this research, current technological trends in geospatial technologies are taken up and investigated on their potential for professional use. Moreover, it is demonstrated that by using freely available software general constraints for using GIS in developing countries can be overcome. Most importantly, the approach presented guarantees low cost for implementation and reproducibility, which is essential for its application in developing countries.

ZEUG Gunter;  BRUNNER Dominik;  SCAVAZZON Marco; 

2009-10-23

IGI Global

JRC52060

http://www.igi-global.com/articles/details.asp?ID=35432,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC52060,