ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Effective disaster management requires the thorough use and understanding of the semantics of the heterogeneous (geo-)information sources with their many differences: scale/resolution, data dimension, classification and attribute schemes, temporal aspects (up-todate-ness, history, predictions of the future), spatial reference system used, etc. In this paper we describe a collaborative situation mapping environment and call it eMapBoard. The eMapBoard approach in general aims to support the spatial awareness, communication, collaboration, and decision support capabilities of relief units acting in spatially distributed and often time-critical operations. eMapBoard is a concept and a prototype of smart interacting mobile devices empowered by sophisticated server-side geo-data and geo-analysis engines. The eMapBoard software will be available not only to use it but also to further develop new modules on an open source base. This paper describes the concepts behind and the implementation into a prototype.
