ABSTRACT
Volunteered geographic information (VGI) is frequently used in disaster management because of its capability to provide near real-time information. However, the potential of VGI in spatial planning is much less recognized, despite a number of advantages over traditional methods, in particular fast, timely and comprehensive data collection. This chapter presents research into the usefulness of VGI for planning flood evacuation shelters in Jakarta (Indonesia). We used VGI to capture the locations of unofficial residents’ evacuation shelters during two periods of flooding (2013/2014 and 2014/2015), which we then compared with the locations of official shelters. Of 171,046 tweets using keywords related to flood evacuation, the content of 306 tweets indicated that the tweeting persons were inside or near 215 evacuation shelters, mostly located close to flooded areas. Analysis showed that only 35.6% of these locations – evacuation shelters chosen by residents – coincided with the locations of official evacuation shelters. Most residents’ sought shelter in green space areas, at neighbours houses, or at locations with which they were familiar from their daily routine – with implications for the planning of sites of official evacuation shelters. Our study demonstrates the advantages of using VGI for spatial planning, in particular due to the ease it offers for capturing the preferences of residents spread over large areas.
