Creating spatial data infrastructure to facilitate the collection and dissemination of geospatial data to aid in disaster management

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Title Creating spatial data infrastructure to facilitate the collection and dissemination of geospatial data to aid in disaster management
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Geography
Author Unger, Corey Daniel
Date 2015-05
Description The 2012 Great Utah Shakeout highlighted the necessity for increased coordination in the collection and sharing of spatial data related to disaster response during an event. Multiple agencies must quickly relay scientific and damage observations between teams in the field and command centers. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is a framework that directly supports information discovery and access and use of the data in decision making processes. An SDI contains five core components: policies, access networks, data handling facilities, standards, and human resources needed for the effective collection, management, access, delivery, and utilization of spatial data for a specific area. Implementation of an SDI will increase communication between agencies, field-based reconnaissance teams, first responders, and individuals in the event of a disaster. The increasing popularity of location-based mobile social networks has led to spatial data from these sources being used in the context of managing disaster response and recovery. Spatial data acquired from social networks, or Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI), could potentially contribute thousands of low-cost observations to aid in damage assessment and recovery efforts that may otherwise be unreported. The objective of this research is to design and develop an SDI to allow the incorporation of VGI, professional Geographic Information System (GIS) layers, a mobile application, and scientific reports to aid in the disaster management process. A secondary goal is to assess the utility of the resulting SDI. The end result of combining the three systems (e.g., SDE, a mobile application, and VGI), along with the network of relevant users, is an SDI that improves the volume, quality, currency, accuracy, and access to vital spatial and scientific information following a hazard event.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Disaster management; Geographic information systems; GIS; SDI; Spatial data infrastructure; Volunteer geographic information
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Corey Daniel Unger 2015
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 3,042,289 Bytes
Identifier etd3/id/3739
ARK ark:/87278/s6vf06r3
Setname ir_etd
ID 197290
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6vf06r3
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