A Geospatial Comparison of 911 Calls, Social Media Posts, and Coast Guard Call Center Traffic During Hurricane Harvey
Abstract
During Hurricane Harvey, the US Coast Guard used crowdsourced information from social media for the first time to support rescue efforts. The main source of this crowdsourced information came from a collaborative effort between cadets at the US Coast Guard Academy and volunteers from Digital Humanitarian Network partner organizations. This paper examines geographic differences in call concentration between 911 calls, social media posts, and Coast Guard call centers calls. To conduct this analysis, the study used a series of geospatial analysis tools to compare geographic characteristics of each source. This analysis demonstrated there are striking differences of where rescue requests were originating from depending on the call source. As first responder organizations seek to improve future disaster response efforts following Hurricane Harvey, there is a need to draw on all available information streams to fully comprehend rescue needs within affected regions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMPA22B..05T
- Keywords:
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- 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings);
- GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUSDE: 1920 Emerging informatics technologies;
- INFORMATICSDE: 1964 Real-time and responsive information delivery;
- INFORMATICSDE: 4352 Interaction between science and disaster management authorities;
- NATURAL HAZARDS