New Geographic Information System (GIS) technology can now map geo-located text, photos and videos that have been uploaded by disaster eyewitnesses to social-media platforms like Twitter and YouTube.
First responders need access to rapid information to react quickly and appropriately during emergencies and there is no way to get information faster than from eyewitness accounts.
Members of the community already use social media to upload and exchange enormous amounts of information during disasters – such as a photo of a bridge that is damaged, or video footage of flood waters rising.
This is vital, near real-time information that can be used to bolster in-house disaster intelligence such as rescue infrastructure maps, weather patterns or video feeds from traffic cameras.
GIS technology could help verify this crowd-sourced data by accessing the time and location of the post.
If a large amount of tweets are clustered within a narrow timeframe and in a certain area, we can be a lot more confident about their veracity...
Once verified, information becomes official intelligence and emergency managers can use it to conduct rescue operations, assess damage to critical infrastructure, and prioritise medical assistance.
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