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Markus Quaritsch, Robert Kuschnig, Hermann Hellwagner, & Bernard Rinner. (2011). Fast aerial image acquisition and mosaicking for emergency response operations by collaborative UAVs. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently gained a lot of interest for various applications such as surveillance, environmental monitoring and emergency response operations. These battery-powered and easy-to-steer aerial robots are equipped with cameras and can promptly acquire aerial images. In this paper we describe our system of multiple UAVs that are able to fly autonomously over an area of interest and generate an overview image of that area. Intuitive and easy user interaction is a key property of our system: The user specifies the area of interest on an electronic map. The flight routes for the UAVs are automatically computed from this specification and the generated overview is presented in a Google-Earth like user interface. We have tested and demonstrated our multi-UAV system on a large fire service drill. Our system provided a high-resolution overview image of the 5.5 ha large test site with regular updates, proved that it is easy to handle, fast to deploy, and useful for the firefighters.
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Schmidt-Colberg, A., & Löffler-Dauth, L. (2023). A Human-Centric Evaluation Dataset for Automated Early Wildfire Detection from a Causal Perspective. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 933–943). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: Insight into performance ability is crucial for successfully implementing AI solutions in real-world applications. Unanticipated input can lead to false positives (FP) and false negatives (FN), potentially resulting in false alarms in fire detection scenarios. Literature on fire detection models shows varying levels of complexity and explicability in evaluation practices; little supplementary information on performance ability outside of accuracy scores is provided. We advocate for a standardized evaluation dataset that prioritizes the end-user perspective in assessing performance capabilities. This leads us to ask what an evaluation dataset needs to constitute to enable a non-expert to determine the adequacy of a model's performance capabilities for their specific use case. We propose using data augmentation techniques that simulate interventions to remove the connection to the original target label, providing interpretable counterfactual explanations into a model's predictions.
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Spyros Chrysanthopoulos, Theofanis Kapetanakis, Giannis Chaidemenos, Stelios Vernardos, Harris Georgiou, & Claudio Rossi. (2020). Emergency Response in Recent Urban/Suburban Disaster Events in Attica: Technology Gaps, Limitations and Lessons Learned. In Amanda Hughes, Fiona McNeill, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2020 Conference Proceedings – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 984–989). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Emergency response operations in large-scale urban/suburban disaster events is often addressed by the standard protocols and international guidelines for collapsed buildings, heavy debris, etc. However, a wide range of First Responder (FR) operations need to address various other contexts, work environments and hazards. In this paper, two real disaster events are explored as use cases for such urban/suburban FR operations, namely a flash flood and a wildfire, both in Attica, Greece (2017-2018). Based on our team's experience from these mobilizations and active participation in both these events as FR actor in the field, we present the challenges, the complexity of such multi-aspect disaster events, the limitations of emergency response, the technology gaps of the FR teams, as well as the lessons learned during these deployments. Finally, we make some notes on future prospects and possible advancements in tools and technologies that would greatly enhance the operational safety and readiness of the FR teams in such events.
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Kate Starbird, & Leysia Palen. (2010). Pass it on?: Retweeting in mass emergency. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: We examine microblogged information generated during two different co-occurring natural hazards events in Spring 2009. Due to its rapid and widespread adoption, microblogging in emergency response is a place for serious consideration and experimentation for future application. Because microblogging is comprised of a set of practices shaped by a number of forces, it is important to measure and describe the diffuse, multiparty information exchange behaviors to anticipate how emergency governance might best play a role. Here we direct consideration toward information propagation properties in the Twitterverse, describing features of information redistribution related to the retweet (RT ) convention. Our analysis shows that during an emergency, for tweets authored by local users and tweets that contain emergency-related search terms, retweets are more likely than non-retweets to be about the event. We note that users are more likely to retweet information originally distributed through Twitter accounts run by media, especially the local media, and traditional service organizations. Comparing local users to the broader audience, we also find that tweet-based information redistribution is different for those who are local to an emergency event.
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Stathis G. Arapostathis. (2019). Instagrammers report about the deadly wildfires of East Attica, 2018, Greece: An introductory analytic assessment for disaster management purposes. In Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management. Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: This article contributes to identifying the capabilities of Instagram when utilized as a source of Volunteered
Geographic Information (VGI) for disaster management (DM) purposes. The geographic focus of this research is
in the Mediterranean area. As case study, the fire event of East Attica 2018, Greece, was chosen. This major fire
occurred on the 23rd of July 2018 and caused the death of 100 people, the injury of additional 164 while the total
burnt area was about 1275,9ha. It is the deadliest in modern Greece?s history and the second deadliest at a global
level, within the 21st century. About 15000 related photos along with the corresponding captions and timestamps
were crawled from Instagram. An initial sample of about 1100, was analyzed, by using a certain methodology
divided in certain steps, the most important of which include the classification of the information to certain
categories, geo-referencing and the creation of graphs and maps that visualize the processed data.
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Stella Polikarpus, Tobias Ley, Hans Hazebroek, Graham Edgar, Geoffrey Sallis, Steven Baker, et al. (2022). Authoring Virtual Simulations to Measure Situation Awareness and Understanding. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 428–433). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: Measuring situation awareness (SA) and situation understanding (SU) is an important topic for Command & Control research. Virtual simulations (VS) have been proposed as a suitable method for measuring SA/U, but, there is little research into how to build scenarios for VS so that SA/U can be measured reliably. In this study, we used two different VS scenarios and the Quantitative Analysis of Situation Awareness (QASA) method to measure, and provide feedback on, actual and perceived SA/U. Two VS scenarios were tested in Estonia with 36 trainees. The results of the different scenarios were compared to establish whether the scenario storylines and authoring process resulted in differences in SA or SU. We conclude that reliable assessment results were produced with both authoring processes, and further suggest that the Collaborative Authoring Process Model for Virtual Simulations (CAPM) be used for VS creation.
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Jeannette N. Sutton, Leysia Palen, & Irina Shklovski. (2008). Backchannels on the front lines: Emergent uses of social media in the 2007 Southern California Wildfires. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 624–631). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Opportunities for participation by members of the public are expanding the information arena of disaster. Social media supports “backchannel” communications, allowing for wide-scale interaction that can be collectively resourceful, self-policing, and generative of information that is otherwise hard to obtain. Results from our study of information practices by members of the public during the October 2007 Southern California Wildfires suggest that community information resources and other backchannel communications activity enabled by social media are gaining prominence in the disaster arena, despite concern by officials about the legitimacy of information shared through such means. We argue that these emergent uses of social media are pre-cursors of broader future changes to the institutional and organizational arrangements of disaster response.
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Takuya Oki, & Toshihiro Osaragi. (2017). Evaluation of Conversion to Quake-Resistant Buildings in Terms of Wide-Area Evacuation and Fire-Brigade Accessibility. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 25–41). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: It is important to evaluate the effects of improving the disaster vulnerability of towns by using various indices related to human damage. In this paper, we focus on conversion of low quake-resistant old buildings. Firstly, we construct a simulation model, which describes property damage (such as building-collapse and street-blockage), wide-area evacuation behavior, and fire-brigade's activities immediately after a large earthquake occurs. Next, using the simulation model, we estimate the travel time required for evacuation, the number of evacuees trapped on streets (or in blocks), and the access time of fire-brigades to fires in case that the ratio of quake-resistant buildings in the area increases to a certain value. Based on the results, we discuss the effects by converting old buildings into quake-resistant ones on reducing the difficulty in wide-area evacuation and improving the accessibility of fire-brigades in multiple study areas with different characteristics.
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Toshihiro Osaragi, & Noriaki Hirokawa. (2019). Simulation Analysis of Fire Hydrant Usability Levels after Large Earthquake. In Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management. Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: Since large earthquakes can disrupt water supply networks, it is essential to gain an understanding of the expected
usability of fire hydrants in post-quake firefighting activities. In this study, data about water supply networks was
collected and a water outage simulation model was constructed in order to predict the likelihood that individual
fire hydrants would become unusable in the wake of a large earthquake. The water outage simulation model was
integrated with a previously developed urban zone damage simulation and a fire department activity simulation
in order to carry out a simulation-based analysis of the 23 wards of Tokyo, after which a quantitative analysis of
the relation-ship between use of fire hydrants and the number of buildings lost to fire was performed. This analysis
revealed the benefits of hardening water lines against earthquakes, fire hydrant usage variations depending on
locality, and the benefits of using water pressure sensors to identify usable fire hydrants.
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Sébastien Tremblay, Peter Berggren, Martin Holmberg, Rego Granlund, Marie-Eve Jobidon, & Paddy Turner. (2012). A multiteam international simulation of joint operations in crisis response. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Concepts such as trust, shared understanding, cultural differences, mental workload, and organizational structure all impact upon the effectiveness of an organization (e.g., Tindale & Kameda, 2000), and even more so in the context of large scale multinational operations (e.g, Smith, Granlund, & Lindgen, 2010). In order to study these concepts we plan a multinational, distributed experiment with participants from three nations collaborating in the same virtual environment: Canadian, British, and Swedish participants will work together as part of a multinational MTS to deal with a complex task and gain control of a crisis situation. Empirical research on MTS remains limited (see, e.g., DeChurch & Marks, 2006) particularly at the multinational level where the investigation of MTS has been so far focused on case studies and exercises (e.g., Goodwin, Essens, & Smith, 2012). Therefore, there is a need to empirically study multinational MTS in order to assess the specific issues that multinational operations face, notably cultural and languages differences. The simulation environment used as experimental platform for this project is C3Fire (www.c3fire.org, Granlund & Granlund, 2011). C3Fire creates an environment whereby teams must work together to resolve a crisis in the firefighting domain, with the goal of evacuating people in critical areas, putting out the forest fire, and protecting buildings and other areas of value from the burning forest fire. This platform makes it possible to study participants' collaborative processes when dealing with a set of crisis scenarios in the context of a simulated emergency response situation. To deal efficiently with the crisis management operation, participants need to prioritize between different objectives, identify and protect critical areas, and plan and implement activities based on given resources. All these tasks are distributed between team members, compelling participants to exchange information and coordinate within and between teams to execute the task. The task is divided into three areas of responsibility as follows: 1) Information and Planning, responsible for situation assessment and providing the operating picture; 2) Operation and Logistic, responsible for intervention and resource management; and 3) Search and Rescue, responsible for research and management of civilians. C3Fire is designed to: 1) achieve an optimal compromise between internal and external validity; 2) show flexibility in scenario configuration (spectrum of units and roles – including search and rescue functions; Tremblay et al., 2010), allowing researchers to capture emergency response and crisis management and rapid response planning; 3) be highly configurable for testing many different types of teams (e.g., hierarchical vs. horizontal organizations); and 4) readily provide objective, non-intrusive metrics for assessing teamwork effectiveness (including macrocognitive functions and team processes) as well as quantitative measures of task performance (that take into account conflicting mission goals). © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Marcel Van Berlo, Richelle Van Rijk, & Eric F. T. Buiël. (2005). A PC-based virtual environment for training team decision-making in high-risk situations. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2005 – 2nd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 195–200). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Live team training of firefighters has several disadvantages. Firstly, it is costly because many team members and training staff are involved. Secondly, not all team members have the same competency level, and some individuals may just not be ready to train in a team context. Thirdly, live training in high-risk situations is difficult and dangerous. Consequently, critical situations can not be trained adequately. Following a scenario-based and a rapid prototyping approach, we are designing and developing a pc-based virtual training environment to train individual firefighters in making decisions in a team context operating in high-risk situations. This individual training program can better prepare the firefighters for live training, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of these team-training exercises. In this paper we describe the training-method, we outline how this is technologically implemented and discuss how we are planning to test the prototype.
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Marcel D.E Van Der Lee, & Marcel Van Vugt. (2004). IMI – An information system for effective Multidisciplinary Incident Management. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 15–19). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: The field of crisis response and disaster management can be characterized, upon many other factors, by distributed operations, not daily routine work and multidisciplinary aspects. In designing and developing information systems for crisis response these factors need special attention. On behalf of regional emergency services, TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory designed and guided commissioning of the IMI project (Information System for Multidisciplinary Incident Management). Four regional fire departments in Zuid-Holland decided to develop the information system. The Rotterdam region was selected as project pilot. The IMI-project was carried out with experiences and a background of military command and control where the above three factors also play a major role. In this paper we will elaborate on the reasons behind the design of the functionalities of the IMI-system. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Jian Wang, Daniela Rosca, Williams Tepfenhart, & Allen Milewski. (2006). Incident command system workflow modeling and analysis: A case study. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 127–136). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: The dynamics and volunteer-based workforce characteristics of incident command systems have raised significant challenges to workflow management systems. Incident command systems must be able to adapt to ever changing surroundings and tasks during an incident. These changes need to be known by all responsible parties, since people work in shifts, get tired or sick during the management of an incident. In order to create this awareness, job action sheets and forms have been created. We propose a paperless system that can dynamically take care of these aspects, and formally verify the correctness of the workflows. Furthermore, during an incident, the majority of workers are volunteers that vary in their knowledge of computers, or workflows. To address these challenges, we developed an intuitive, yet formal approach to workflow modeling, modification, enactment and validation. In this paper, we show how to apply this approach to address the needs of a typical incident command system workflow.
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Benedikt Weber, Thomas Deckers, & Frank Wilson. (2013). Interoperability during a cross-border firefighting operation at the dutch-german border. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 925–926). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: This practitioner report describes a moor- And turf-fire that occurred in 2011 at the Dutch-German border and was engaged by forces both from the Netherlands and Germany. All involved emergency management organizations were facing interoperability issues when it came to cross-border cooperation, although cooperation handbooks were already in use and the involved organizations were used to work together. The size of the incident and it's remote location called for an increased coordination between all involved actors and across all command levels.
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Asa Weinholt, & Tobias Andersson Granberg. (2013). Evaluation of enhanced collaboration between fire and rescue services and security officers. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 735–740). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: The hypothesis of this study is that collaboration between fire and rescue services and new actors, with basic rescue skills, might be a cost effective way to improve emergency response. Interview studies of collaborations between fire and rescue services and security officers in three Swedish municipalities are presented. Seven semi-structured interviews are conducted with representatives from the security officer companies, the fire and rescue services and security managers at the municipalities. The method used to evaluate the collaborations quantitatively is Cost-benefit analysis. The collaborations have positive economic effects for society that most likely outweighs the costs. There also exist several external effects that are not possible to value monetarily, but that represent positive values for society. The results and their generalizability are discussed, as well as the possibility for these new collaborations to improve crisis management.
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Selim Serhan Yildiz, & Himmet Karaman. (2012). Developing a physics-based model for post-earthquake ignitions. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Earthquakes not only cause damages by shaking, but secondary disasters like fire following earthquake (FFE), tsunami, liquefaction, land slide etc. also cause large-scale losses. In some cases, FFEs result in losses more than shaking do as seen in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1923 Kanto earthquake. FFEs are generally caused by strong ground shakings. Strong shakings damage the structures and infrastructures. As a consequence of earthquake, many ignitions can occur due to damaged gas systems and electrical systems, overturning of electrical appliances and heating equipments and falling of flammable materials from shelves in structures. In addition to interior structure ignitions, damaged infrastructure elements such as gas pipelines and electric transmission lines can also cause ignitions. Some of these ignitions spread due to amount of fuel load (combustible materials), construction material, direction and speed of wind etc. in the environment and they can turn into large urban conflagrations. This paper proposes a physics-based post-earthquake fire ignition model in order to estimate number and location of ignitions in urban areas. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Zhenyu Yu, Chuanfeng Han, & Ma Ma. (2014). Emergency decision making: A dynamic approach. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 240–244). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The dynamic nature of emergency decision making exerts difficulty to decision makers for achieving effective management. In this regard, we suggest a dynamic decision making model based on Markov decision process. Our model copes with the dynamic decision problems quantitatively and computationally, and has powerful expression ability to model the emergency decision problems. We use a wildfire scenario to demonstrate the implementation of the model, as well as the solution to the firefighting problem. The advantages of our model in emergency management domain are discussed and concluded in the last.
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Zelenka, J., Kasanický, T. š, Gatial, E., Balogh, Z., Majlingová, A., Brodrechtova, Y., et al. (2023). Coordination of Drones Swarm for Wildfires Monitoring. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 144–151). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: As a result of climate change and global weather patterns, large forest fires are becoming more frequent in different parts of the world. The focus of the presented work is on creation of a complex coordination and communication framework for a swarm of drones specially tailored for use in preventing and monitoring of forest fires. The presented algorithm has been testing and evaluating using a computer simulation. The testing and validation in relevant environment is scheduled during a pilot demonstration exercise with real personnel and equipment, which will take place in Slovakia on April 2023. The presented work is a part of the SILVANUS EU H2020 project, whose objective is the creation of a climate resilient forest management platform for forest fire prevention and suppression. SILVANUS draws on environmental, technical, and social science experts to support regional and national authorities responsible for forest fire management in their respective countries.
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