Usage of spatial technology in emergency mapping

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a study to use of GIS, Remote Sensing and mobile GPS on humanitarian assistance. The aim of this work was to develop a geographic information system (GIS) based road network map of War affected areas in Northern Province, Sri Lanka that can be used to analyze road conditions and suggest possible solutions. The handheld global positioning system (GPS) was used to acquire geographic coordinates of major locations such as hospitals, key government offices and schools. The transformed GPS coordinates were added to the ArcGIS environment to define the spatial locations. Prior to that, the road map was digitized and geo-rectified. Google Earth environment was used to acquire data of new roads, for map updating and revision. Geographic information systems (GIS) operations using ArcGIS 10 were used to create road map. The study recommends that, these technologies have been proved most efficient and accurate compare to traditional methods. Use of advanced technology with grass root or local knowledge is always advantageous to get better results and generate trustworthy information. Generating, managing and updating such a kind of database can be utilized for development of Decision Support Systems which will further support Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) on Humanitarian Assistance.