Thursday, October 25, 2007

GEOMAC GEOMAC map of the Rice fire outside San Diego this morning, with street map overlay.

In response to my recent Tidbit on wildfire maps that use Google Maps, journalist Hans Laetz, who is in the Los Angeles area, was skeptical of their value.

In his comment, he wrote: "People in fire areas know where the fires are in broad, general terms. ...What they do not know is exactly where the fire is. On a street-by-street basis, they need to know what has (and is) burning, and what is threatened.

"...I've covered wildfire after wildfire down here, and the one important function that needs to be covered is a direct link to the very latest fire maps. ...People need the exact fire maps that exist within the GIS computers at the fire command posts."

I think Laetz makes a very good point. what he recommends could indeed be useful -- and a great complement to what news orgs are already doing. However, if this kind of system was implemented with serious flaws, it could prove useless to people on the ground -- or even dangerous.

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So I'd like to toss this one out to the Tidbits community to brainstorm.

Is this kind of map or info service possible? How might hyperlocal fire data be reliably obtained, disseminated, and continuously updated? Might a mapping service like the Geospacial Multi-Agency Coordination (GEOMAC) be useful?

Could this data be made searchable by, say, zip code, address, intersection, or other sorts of widely known local geographic indicators -- so people could search for and get only the information relevant to specific neighborhoods or streets?

And most importantly, how could people in the midst of a crisis access this information reliably and fast via an online, mobile, or phone-based service?

Could something like this be put together during a crisis, or would the system need to be in place in advance, ready for a crisis?

Is anyone already doing this, or parts of it?

Finally, is this something news orgs can or should do, is this something that emergency response agencies should handle -- or is this something both types of organizations could collaborate on?

Please comment below with your ideas. Thanks!

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