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Stephen Potter, & Gerhard Wickler. (2008). Model-based query systems for emergency response. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 495–503). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In this paper we describe the approach adopted and experiences gained during a project to develop a general architecture that aims to harness advanced sensor, modelling and Grid technologies to assist emergency responders in tackling emergencies (specifically fire emergencies). Here we focus on the command and control aspects of this architecture, and in particular, on a query-based approach that has been adopted to allow end users to interact with available models of physical and other phenomena. The development of this has provided a number of insights about the use of such models, which along with the approach itself, should be of interest to any considering similar applications.
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Raul Eduardo Simoni Castanhari, Roberto dos Santos Rocha, Sidgley Camargo de Andrade, & João Porto de Albuquerque. (2016). A Software Architecture to Integrate Sensor Data and Volunteered Geographic Information for Flood Risk Management. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: Natural disasters are phenomena that can cause great damage to people in urban and rural areas, and thus require preventive and reactive measures. If they involve multiple sources of information, these measures can be more useful and effective. However, the integration of heterogeneous data still poses challenges due to the differences in their structures and contents. To overcome this difficulty, this paper outlines a service-oriented architecture, as part of the AGORA platform, which aims to support the integration of sensor data and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) related to floods. The composition of the architectural components enables sensor data to be integrated with VGI by using several algorithms in a flexible and automated manner. The architecture was implemented by means of a prototype as a proof of concept and the results were used to generate thematic maps. These maps can improve flood risk awareness and support decision-making in flood risk management.
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Robert Power, Bella Robinson, & Mark Cameron. (2023). Insights from a Decade of Twitter Monitoring for Emergency Management. In V. L. Thomas J. Huggins (Ed.), Proceedings of the ISCRAM Asia Pacific Conference 2022 (pp. 247–257). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey Unversity.
Abstract: The Emergency Situation Awareness (ESA) tool began as a research study into automated web text mining to support emergency management use cases. It started in late 2009 by investigating how people respond on Twitter to specific emergency events and we quickly realized that every emergency situation is different and preemptively defining keywords to search for content on Twitter beforehand would likely miss important information. So, in late September 2011 we established location-based searches with the aim of collecting all the tweets published in Australia and New Zealand. This was the beginning of over a decade of collecting and processing tweets to help emergency response agencies and crisis coordination centres use social media content as a new channel of information to support their work practices and to engage with the community impacted by emergency events. This journey has seen numerous challenges overcome to continuously maintain a tweet stream for an operational system. This experience allows us to derive insights into the changing use of Twitter over this time. In this paper we present some of the lessons we’ve learned from maintaining a Twitter monitoring system for emergency management use cases and we provide some insights into the changing nature of Twitter usage by users over this period.
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Robin E. Mays, Mark Zachry, Murat, A., & Mark P. Haselkorn. (2011). Aligning border security workflow and decision making with supporting information and communication systems. 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: As part of the National Center for Border Security and Immigration (NCBSI) led by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), researchers from the University of Washington, Wayne State University, and UTEP conducted a three-site study of border security operations and the role of command, control and communication (C3) systems in support of those operations. While inevitably bringing some positive capability to the environment, if C3 systems are not consciously aligned with desired practices and decision-making, the implications will not always be for the better. This is especially true of C3 systems in the border security environment because these systems are intimately intertwined with complex and critical workflow and decision-making processes, often in the context of complex and, at times, competing missions.
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Tim Schoenharl, Greg Madey, Gábor Szabó, & Albert-László Barabási. (2006). WIPER: A multi-agent system for emergency response. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 282–287). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: This paper describes the proposed WIPER system. WIPER is intended to provide emergency planners and responders with an integrated system that will help to detect possible emergencies, as well as to suggest and evaluate possible courses of action to deal with the emergency. The system is designed as a multi-agent system using web services and the service oriented architecture. Components of the system for detecting and mitigating emergency situations can be added and removed from the system as the need arises. WIPER is designed to evaluate potential plans of action using a series of GIS enabled Agent-Based simulations that are grounded on realtime data from cell phone network providers. The system relies on the DDDAS concept, the interactive use of partial aggregate and detailed realtime data to continuously update the system and allow emergency planners to stay updated on the situation. The interaction with the system is done using a web-based interface and is composed of several overlaid layers of information, allowing users rich detail and flexibility.
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Frederik Schütte, Rubén Casado, & Emilio Rubiera. (2013). Solving interoperability issues in cross border emergency operations. 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. 370–375). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: This paper describes the work that is being done within the EU research project DISASTER to solve interoperability issues in cross-border emergency operations by applying a technical solution that is able to create a common operational picture. To that end a twofold solution is proposed: The development of a common and modular ontology shared by all the stakeholders taking into account different countries cultural, linguistic and legal issues. And, from that point, bearing in mind that most legacy EMSs (Emergency Management Systems) rely on Service-Oriented-Architectures (SOA), the implementation of transparent SOA mediation algorithms compliant with current data formats and existing solutions. That way, a mediation solution is provided by the DISASTER Mediator, which plays the role of gateway for each EMS enabling a communication based in Web Services. In order to avoid a misunderstanding of shared information it is necessary to create a solution that offers more than a plain translation of terms but rather a concept mediation so the corresponding user is able to understand the situation in its own framework of reference.
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Nabil Seddigh, Biswajit Nandy, & John Lambadaris. (2006). An internet public alerting system: A canadian experience. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 141–146). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Public officials have the responsibility of giving public directions and issuing warnings in the event of an emergency. Traditionally, siren systems, radio and television have been used as the primary means for issuing public alerts. Recently, there has been increased interest in evaluating the Internet's suitability for issuing public alerts during times of emergency. This paper presents a Canadian experience with the design and trials of an Internet-based emergency public alerting system (IPAS). We discuss a proposed set of requirements and system architecture. We also include a discussion of the challenges to be overcome in developing such systems and report on experiments and field trials using the IPAS system developed during this project. Our objective is to provide motivation for future research and industry work in this area.
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Pekka Sillberg, Petri Rantanen, Mika Saari, Jari Leppäniemi, Jari Soini, & Hannu Jaakkola. (2009). Towards an IP-based alert message delivery system. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Advancements in technology have provided new opportunities for the delivery of emergency messages. However, some of the issues concerning data security and technical solutions are quite different from the problems of the traditional means of communication. The Internet poses its own set of challenges. This paper presents a few emergency messaging system proposals made by other researchers and also introduces a new proposition put forward by the authors of this paper. This will demonstrate how to use client-server architecture to deliver emergency alert messages in IP-based networks. The proposed system uses Atom feeds to deliver alert messages and also provides a feedback channel for client data. In this scenario clients could have any kind of device from mobile terminals to desktop computers.
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Alexander Smirnov, Tatiana Levashova, Andrew Krizhanovsky, Nikolay Shilov, & Alexey Kashevnik. (2009). Self-organizing resource network for traffic accident response. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Traffic accidents are a common feature of the modern life. The paper proposes an approach addressing response to traffic accidents happened in a smart environment. The idea behind the approach is to self-organize resources of the environment according to the state of the situation caused by the accident. The resources self-organize a collaborative network that comprises physical devices, software services, organizations, and persons. The purpose of the resources is to undertake joint actions for accident response. The disaster response system intended for operating in smart environments has a service-oriented architecture. Some of Web-services making up the architecture are intended to model the accident situations; others model resource functionalities or bear supporting functions. Web-services that model resource functionalities are aligned against the disaster management ontology. This alignment ensures semantic interoperability of the heterogeneous resources. The alignment operation is supported by a tool that identifies similar concepts in the ontology and Web-service descriptions using a machine-readable dictionary. Response to the traffic accident illustrates main ideas described in the paper.
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Sophie Gerstmann, Hans Betke, & Stefan Sackmann. (2019). Towards Automated Individual Communication for Coordination of Spontaneous Volunteers. 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: In recent years, spontaneous volunteers often turned out to be a critical factor to overcome disaster situations and
avoid further damages to life and assets. These Volunteers coordinate their activities using social media and
mobile devices but are not integrated in usual command and control structures of disaster responders. The lack of
professional disaster response knowledge leads to a waste of potential workforce or even dangerous situations for
the volunteers. In this paper, a novel approach for a centralized coordination of spontaneous volunteers through
disaster response professionals while using popular communication channels esp. messaging services (e.g.
Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp) is presented. The architecture of a volunteer coordination system focusing on
automated multi-channel communication is shown and the possibilities of a universal chatbot for individual
assignment and scheduling of volunteers are discussed. The paper also provides first insights in a demonstrator
system as a practical solution.
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Daniel Stein, Barbara Krausz, Jobst Löffler, Robin Marterer, Rolf Bardeli, Jochen Schwenninger, et al. (2012). Enriching an intelligent resource management system with automatic event recognition. 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: Event recognition systems have high potential to support crisis management and emergency response. Given the vast amount of possible input channels, automatic processing of raw data is crucial. In this paper, we describe several components integrated in an overall intelligent resource management system, namely abnormal event detection in audio and video material, as well as automatic speech recognition within a public safety network. We elaborate on the challenges expected from real life data and the solutions that we applied. The overall system, based on Event-Driven Service-Oriented Architecture, has been implemented and partly integrated into the end users' infrastructures. The system is continuously running since almost two years, collecting data for research purposes. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Patrick Storms. (2004). Combined systems: A system of systems architecture. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 139–144). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Combined Systems is aimed at exploring distributed decision support systems in open, complex chaotic environments. On a general scale, Combined is all about decision-making: observing the environment, making decisions and effectuating these to manage the current situation. Crisis management is a typical domain in which Combined-type systems can prove their value. For this reason the Combined project uses crisis management as primary case-domain. In this paper we highlight the key technologies that are subject of the Combined research, and we describe them in the light of crisis management. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Gaia Trecarichi, Veronica Rizzi, Lorenzino Vaccari, Maurizio Marchese, & Paolo Besana. (2009). Open Knowledge at work: Exploring centralized and decentralized information gathering in emergency contexts. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Real-world experience teaches us that to manage emergencies, efficient crisis response coordination is crucial. ICT infrastructures are effective in supporting the people involved in such contexts, by supporting effective ways of interaction. They also should provide innovative means of communication and information management. At present, centralized architectures are mostly used for this purpose; however, alternative infrastructures based on the use of distributed information sources, are currently being explored, studied and analyzed. This paper aims at investigating the capability of a novel approach (developed within the European project OpenKnowledge1) to support both centralized and decentralized architectures for information gathering. For this purpose, we developed an agent-based e-Response simulation environment fully integrated with the OpenKnowledge infrastructure and through which existing emergency plans are modelled and simulated. Preliminary results show the OpenKnowledge capability of supporting the two afore-mentioned architectures and, under ideal assumptions, a comparable performance in both cases.
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Ulrich Meissen, Frank Fuchs-Kittowski, Michael Jendreck, Stefan Pfennigschmidt, Markus Hardt, & Agnès Voisard. (2017). A general system architecture and design for the coordination of volunteers for agile disaster response. 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. 890–900). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: In the recent decade the evolvement and widespread success of new technologies in particular in the field of computing power, network bandwidth, mobile networks and wearable devices have prepared the foundation for completely new approaches in crisis management. Currently, we are at the edge that such new technologies for crisis management are becoming a real and practically applicable option, e.g. in the field of alerting, crowdsourcing, and crowdtasking. In parallel, we witness in the recent years that citizens are more and more willing to help during crisis and disasters, thus providing a large – yet unused – potential for agile support in disaster preparation and response. In many disaster situations the emergency personnel reach the limits of their capabilities. In particular during the isolation phase the support of such volunteers can be a valuable benefit for disaster response. With the help of new technologies crisis management can provide current on-site information via mobile devices in real time as well as organize and coordinate the activities of the volunteers at specific locations. In this paper we present the results of the research project ENSURE: a general architecture and a system design for the coordination of spontaneous volunteers for agile disaster response. With the expected broader implementation of such systems in disaster management in the future it is inevitable to elaborate such common technological foundations for practical mass applications.
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Shuyan Xie, & Markus Helfert. (2011). Towards an information architecture oriented framework for emergency response system. 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: Emergency, situations characterized as high consequence, low probability, and short decision time, create a unique decision-making environment that must be conscientiously supported. Historically, one of the techniques business has used to improve complex processes is a maturity model. Organizations should create the capabilities to react to information sharing needs in advance, not react an ad hoc manner to the information crisis. Based on the IT-Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF), we detailed some aspects of this model from an information architectural perspective to examine a country wide emergency service. Although information system and information technology (ISIT) have been emphasized in emergency management system, architectural aspects- a structure emphasized semantic description however have been of limited considerations. We propose a framework to analyzing architectural aspects for information sharing that can help improve emergency response system. The framework is discussed and exemplified with a case study. We conclude that the proposed framework provides a deeper understanding of information in use from technical and managerial aspects during emergency response. Guideline for further improvement will be the focus in our future work.
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