Geoinformation for Disaster and Risk Management - ISPRS

damage, together with major effects that are
obscured from overhead viewing such as soft storey
collapses. A detailed street-view perspective
captured using tools like the VIEWS data collection
system designed by ImageCat
(www.imagecatinc.com ) in collaboration with
MCEER (www.mceer.buffalo.edu), fills these
information gaps.
VIEWS is a notebook-based field data collection and
visualization system. It integrates pre- and postdisaster
remote sensing imagery with real-time GPS
(Global Positioning System) readings and map layers,
and operates in conjunction with a high-definition
video (HDV) digital camera and digital video
recorder. The VIEWS system was first deployed for
earthquake field reconnaissance following the
December 2003 Bam (Iran) earthquake (Adams et
al., 2004), and has since been utilised following
events including the Indian Ocean tsunami and the
2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
Conclusion
Within the risk management arena, to date, the
research focus of remote sensing and GIS has
generally been on engineering aspects of urban
inventory. Nevertheless, faced with increasing
human losses from natural disasters as urban
populations expand, the global research community
is beginning to recognise the potential of these
technologies for estimating socio-economic
parameters.
It can concluded that with the goal of minimising
future human suffering and loss, information on
population and its distribution is one of the most
crucial parameters for resilient disaster
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Management. The case study of Ahmedabad
demonstrates that population data for different
spatial levels, as well as information on the data
source and associated metadata are scarce,
expensive or unavailable. Initial results indicate that
a tiered conceptual framework provides a
transparent and consistent system for estimating
population at different levels. Implementation of the
framework described is currently being completed
and initial results are expected in early 2010.
Remote sensing and GIS are also increasingly being
used for inventory data development and disaster
response within the re/insurance and humanitarian
Figure 4: Virtual Disaster Viewer post-earthquake
damage assessment for the 2008 Wenchuan event,
simultaneously conducted by more than 100 experts
located in Universities, Research Organisations and
Companies around the World.
information systems for first responders such as
InLET and the Virtual Disaster Viewer (VDV), which
enables rapid data development and sharing in the
direct aftermath of an event. Initiatives such as the
International Charter provide remote sensing-based
situation assessment and damage information to
authorised users and nations affected by disasters.
For a complete picture, aerial and satellite imagery
may need to be augmented with street-view
information acquired using systems such as VIEWS.