Mobile map applications and the democratisation of hazard information
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Title
Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2015, Kobe, Japan
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
21620
Abstract
The geospatial web — exemplified by the popularity of Google Maps — has democratised the accessibility of geospatial data that was previously available only to those with expertise in GIS (Geo-graphic information systems). This increased accessibility has re-sulted in critical information — such as the location of bushfires in Australia — being made more accessible to communities vulner-able to such risks. This paper reports on the findings of a research project in Australia that aimed to present near real-time bushfire information in an interface that community-based users found in-tuitive and easy to use. It also describes the early prototype stages of an iPhone application that aims to demonstrate how Japanese natural hazard data can be presented in a more intuitive way. The work described here is intended to encourage organisations and in-dividuals presenting spatial hazard information to non-expert users to consider the needs, abilities and concerns of their intended audi-ence. It also describes the technologies and processes used in the design and development of the MyFireWatch and Mapping Hazards in Japan applications.
DOI
10.1145/2818427.2818440
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Haimes, P., Baba, T., & Medley, S. (2015). Mobile map applications and the democratisation of hazard information. In Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2015, Kobe, Japan (Article 7). Available here