Geo-fencing based disaster management service

Abstract

The success of disaster handling often depends on the efficient flow of information. The social media and networks receive a growing attention as potential source of valuable data in disaster scenarios. The social network based information flow is real-time, direct, two-directional and often geo-tagged. Unfortunately, besides these obvious advantages, social network data suffers from drawbacks: it is unstructured, dispersed and lacks reliability. This paper proposes an approach based on combining a geo-fencing technology with social network platform to combat this problem and deliver a novel service for disaster management. The service groups users ad-hoc based on their location. Social network features allow users to exchange real-time information, coordinate rescue efforts, issue and report tasks. The geo-fences are visualized to provide a good overview of the disaster zone. The service was evaluated by disaster management experts, with an encouraging feedback.