We consider the problem of providing situational awareness when citizens in a disaster are willing to contribute their own devices, such as laptops and smart phones, to gather data (text, images, audio or video) and to help forward data gathered by others. A situational awareness service processes all received data and creates annotated maps to visualize a disaster site (e.g., the status of the...

in traditional bazaars social interactions, parallel to economic and movement interactions, created a mixed urban space which was dynamic, lively and attractive to the audience. however, modern shopping centers and shopping malls are economy focused and void of variety of urban spaces like traditional bazaars. the presence of public open spaces and urban squares undetectable from traditional ba...

For some emergency situations an effective response can be reliant on sensor data (e.g. river level, traffic flow, weather conditions) to provide situation awareness, in order to help authorities make informed decisions. Gathering data in a traditional approach, i.e. using precise physical sensors, is a highly expensive task, involving procurement, installation and maintenance of a number of se...

Population preparedness plays a crucial role in disaster management since it can help reduce the number of victims and restrict damage. Nevertheless, little work has been done at a European level towards preparing populations to learn how to cope with disasters and involving them in the disaster management process. In this paper we present the preliminary results of an on-line emergency prepare...

Communicating public health issues related to rural and urban road transportation safety is a challenging task. The approach to this task was to utilize an action-design research methodology to design and evaluate several innovative GIS-mashups that visually communicate traffic fatality information from the national to the local level. These web-based mashups (www.saferoadmaps.org) integrate a ...

To raise awareness in disaster situations, the quality and analysis of disaster-related big data are essential. Recent developments in the collection, analysis, and visualization of multimedia data have led to a significant enhancement in disaster management systems. Crowdsourcing tools, for instance, allow citizens to perform an active role in reporting information relevant to disaster events ...

Similar to other developing countries, Jordan started a national e-Government initiative aiming to streamline government procedures and make information and government services available to business and citizens online. This paper presents the results of a pilot study that aims to assess factors which could influence the awareness and use of e-Government services in Jordan. It investigates issu...

Similar to other developing countries, Jordan started a national e-government initiative aiming to streamline government procedures and make information and government services available to business and citizens online. This paper presents the results of a study that assessed factors which could influence the awareness level, acceptance and use of e-government services in Jordan. It investigate...