Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Ushahidi and Sahana Eden Open-Source
Platforms to Assist Disaster Relief:
Geospatial Components and Capabilities
Khanh Ngo Duc, Tuong-Thuy Vu and Yifang Ban
Abstract In responses to recent large-scale disaster events, huge amount of
ground information have been collected in addition to the synoptic views from
satellite images. Different platforms have been in place to facilitate the collection
and management of such critical location-based information from the crowd. This
study investigated the current implementation of geospatial components and their
capabilities in open-source platforms, particularly Ushahidi and Sahana Eden.
Using the 2011 Christchurch earthquake data and following the four main func-
tions of a geo-info system: Data input, Geospatial analysis, Data management, and
Visualization, the performance of geospatial-components were evaluated by a
group of users. The result showed that with rich visualization on interactive map
both Sahana Eden and Ushahidi enable emergency managers to track the needs of
disaster-affected people. While Ushahidi can only filter incidents records by time
or category, geospatial data management of Sahana Eden is proven to be more
powerful, allowing emergency managers input different geospatial data such as
incidents, organizations, human resource, warehouses, hospitals, shelters, assets,
and projects and visualizing all of these features on a map. It also helps to simplify
the coordination among aids agencies. However, geospatial analysis is the limi-
tation of both platforms. The findings recommended that data input with more
variety of formats and more geospatial analysis functions should be added. Further
research will expand to more case studies taking into account the requirements of
disaster management practitioners and emergency responders.
