BUSHFIRE CONNECT

Leveraging Citizen Sensors and Spatial Information Standards for Australian Bushfire Management

MAURITS VAN DER VLUGTSpatial Information strategist

OVERVIEW

Background Why Bushfire Connect? What does it do? Status

Q&A

7 FEB 2009 - BLACK SATURDAY

Worst Bushfires in State of Victoria Burnt1 Million Football Fields Displaced 7,500 people 2000 houses lost 173 dead

INFORMATION BREAKDOWN

Official Agencies & Emergency Services Slow & Overwhelmed 000 ( ~911) overloaded

No alternative sources Rumours & Misinformation

Evacuations: too late and misdirected.

COMMUNITY NEED

Grass roots community reporting Fast, localised, community driven

Integration with Official Sources Integrate with agency feeds Inform Emergency Services (add to COP)

Crisis Mapping 2.0!

ENTER USHAHIDI… Open Source, Citizen

Reporting, since 2008 Citizen Reporting &

Alerting Crisis Mapping 2.0 tool

of choice Haiti & Chile Earthquakes Gulf of Mexico Oilspill Egyptian elections (5x!!) Pakistan Floods Etc, Etc..

USHAHIDI – BUSHFIRE CONNECT

Twitter: @bushfireconnect

http://bushfireconnect.org

BUSHFIRE CONNECT

Community Powered

Community Resilience

Integrate Crowd Sourced and Official Information

INCIDENT REPORTS

SMS Web-Form Geo-RSS Emails Tweets

INCIDENT ALERTS – OPT IN

SMS Email RSS…

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Since May 2010 Working prototype up and running Small team of volunteers (up to 7 people) $1200 cash

Next steps Local Trials in Dec 2010 ‘Live’ in January Fundraising!

STANDARDS? - THEY’RE JUST THERE! (Geo-) RSS (in-/out) KML/KMZ WMS/WFS (through KML)

Opportunities CAP WMS/WFS out Other?

SUMMARY

Black Saturday – Information Breakdown Community Needs – Crisis Information 2.0 Bushfire Connect

Community powered Integrate crowd-sourced and official information

Standards: They’re just there!

THAT’S IT… THANKS FOR LISTENING

Maurits.vandervlugt@mercuryps.com.au

http://spatial21.blogspot.com

http://bushfireconnect.org

Twitter: @mvandervlugt