Social media and crisis mapping : recent developments and application ideas for crisis response

Includes bibliographical references (pages 62-66).Maps created or utilized for crisis response are meant to increase the safety of the responder and increase the efficacy of their response to people in need. Social Media has become part of the everyday experience for a large and ever-growing number of people. Crisis mapping seeks to utilize first-hand, crisis-related Social Media reports to contribute to situational awareness for responders and facilitate response. Although the percentage of Social Media reports that contribute meaningfully to situational awareness appears to be low, the volume of all Social Media posts is so high that even a low percentage turns out to be a significant number of actionable posts. The work required to identify the meaningful Social Media reports and add geographic data when necessary, for inclusion in a crisis map, is time intensive. Emerging Internet services such as Tweak the Tweet and Geofeedia each provide novel and unique ideas that assist in reducing the time currently required to identify actionable Social Media posts for the purpose of Crisis Mapping. Additional application ideas on how Tweak the Tweet and Geofeedia might be utilized and modified for further benefit to Crisis Mapping, and in turn crisis response, are also presented. As the widespread presence of smartphones enables a massive increase in Social Media posts about life in general, including disasters, Crisis Mapping will continue to rapidly develop into a powerful force for saving lives and reducing suffering associated with crises