Case study 06 · WebGIS / Humanitarian Response · 2006 – 2014
Disaster-Response WebGIS
Contributed to a disaster-response WebGIS for a national humanitarian relief organization, supporting earthquake damage estimates, aid-requirement estimates and identification of the nearest help stations.
- Domain
- Humanitarian / emergency response
- Role
- GIS developer
- Type
- Decision-support WebGIS
- Stack
- WebGIS · spatial analysis
From my work before founding ArtaPattern. Client names and confidential details are left out, and diagrams are conceptual.
Spatial decision support for disaster response
A WebGIS built for a national humanitarian relief organization to support earthquake response: estimating damage, estimating aid requirements, and identifying the help stations nearest to affected areas.
Engineering context
This was part of my early career as a GIS developer. Requirements were worked out directly with project owners. In the same role I also built ArcGIS plugins synchronized with an Oracle database, a separate project listed in the archive.
Problem & constraints
- Results had to be usable by response staff in a browser, not only by GIS specialists.
- Damage and aid estimates depended on combining several spatial datasets.
- Finding the nearest help stations required proximity analysis on the map data.
Analysis on the map, delivered through the browser
Spatial data and estimation logic were brought together in a web-based GIS, so coordinators could see an affected area, its estimated damage and aid requirements, and the nearest help stations in one view.
Key engineering decisions
Deliver GIS through the web
A WebGIS put the analysis in front of response staff without desktop GIS software.
Combine estimation with proximity
Damage and aid estimates were shown together with the nearest help stations to support response planning.
Implementation & delivery
- 01
Requirements
With project owners.
- 02
Data
Spatial layers and stations.
- 03
Analysis
Damage, aid, proximity.
- 04
WebGIS
Browser-based views.