Crowdsource mapping of target buildings in hazard: the utilization of smartphone technologies and geographic services

Volunteered geographical information (VGI) refers to geographical information that the general public voluntarily collects and shares in the environment instead of for-profit businesses or government entities. Crowdsourcing such information on urgent needs in a disaster can improve the quick emergen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied geomatics 2020-03, Vol.12 (1), p.3-14
Main Authors: Vahidnia, Mohammad H., Hosseinali, Farhad, Shafiei, Maryam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Communication
Crowdsourcing
Digital map services
Disaster management
Earth and Environmental Science
Emergency preparedness
Geographical Information Systems/Cartography
Geography
Geophysics/Geodesy
Magnetic field
Magnetic fields
Mapping
Measurement Science and Instrumentation
Measuring instruments
Methods
Original Paper
Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry
Sensors
Smart phones
Smartphones
Surveying
Telecommunications
Web 2.0
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Summary:Volunteered geographical information (VGI) refers to geographical information that the general public voluntarily collects and shares in the environment instead of for-profit businesses or government entities. Crowdsourcing such information on urgent needs in a disaster can improve the quick emergency responses. This study incorporates the capability of smartphone sensors, GPS, Web 2.0, VGI, and server-based technologies to design and develop a system for collecting target hazard information from volunteers. One of the most important contributions in designing this system is considering the improvement of the positional accuracy of the target buildings based on the position of the mobile device. Several approaches have been recommended for this purpose. The solutions include the use of online map services, geocoding services, and trigonometric methods based on the measurements of sensors such as camera, accelerometer, and magnetic field embedded in a smart mobile phone. The accuracy assessment showed that the trigonometric method by the means of embedded sensors would yield the best result. However, geocoding is more economical in terms of time than other methods. Potentially, the evaluation of the mobile application provided by a group of volunteers showed the overwhelming preference of crowdsource mapping over current telephone communication systems in disaster management.
ISSN:1866-9298
1866-928X
DOI:10.1007/s12518-019-00280-9