A Multi-Agent Approach to assess Geospatial Interoperability for Disaster Management in India

The data produced and consumed during emergency and disaster management is inherently spatial in nature, with a high probability of information deluge. Disaster management process are time and safety-critical and requires processes and data standards which are inter-operable. The Open Geo-spatial Consortium provides specifications for geo-spatial data, of which WFS, WMS, GML, GeoXaCML and GeoSMS, among others, are relevant for information flow during emergency management. In this article we describe our approach to assess these different standards for interoperability using a multi-agent simulation. In order to describe the shared vocabulary between these agenices, we model it as an ontology. The roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in disaster management are provided as input to the simulation in the form of an ontology. We conclude with the design of the simulation system, followed by a brief description of the future work.