Enhancing the world's response to emergencies
In emergency situations with associated danger to civilians and the environment, authorities require accurate and real-time information from the field in order to quickly take effective measures. Global emergency management must rely heavily on mobile satellite communications to secure operations anywhere and anytime, but SatCom has limited bandwidth and is slow and costly. The EU-funded GEO-Pictures project incorporated geo-tagged photo, video, audio and sensor data for Situational Awareness, and to improve interpretation of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Earth Observation (EO) information. The integrated system providing near-real–time situational maps with a fusion of required data establishes a missing link in larger-scale emergency management support. Better information gives a basis for better decisions. The satellite time- and location-referenced multi-input and multi-output communications system enables efficient distribution of large image files like high-resolution photos, video and satelliteEarth Observation (GMES/Copernicus) data over unknown and capacity-limited satellite or mobile channels without broadband infrastructure. One can thus send detailed field information in real-time to operation and decision centres, where one is hosted by the United Nations on the CERN Geneva campus. GEO-Pictures has already been used during several real events worldwide, including the Youth Olympic Games in 2012, Thailand/Bangkok flooding in 2011 and several UN operations. In addition to the PC version, its Field Communicator mobile solution for Android and iPhone applications has proven an excellent resource for crowd sourcing via in situ observations. Continued impact is assured by integration with United Nations, EU and other disaster alert and coordination systems. GEO-Pictures will no doubt have significant impact on assessing global emergencies and taking effective actions for preserving human lives and the environment, and the support for and evolution of the technology continues after the successful project closes.
