Visualization methods and associated challenges of disaster data for common operational picture

The concept of Mashup, which refers to forming a new service by combining technologies and contents from multiple sources, already exists after Web2.0 in the field of software development; however, its concept was not converted well to social service yet. After Tohoku Earthquake ministries and agencies in Japan found it necessary to organize the pieces of information in a geospatial manner in order to take a comprehensive, panoramic view of situations at the site. The Emergency Mapping Team (EMT), joint team of industry and academia, was so organized as to be able to gather and analyze the information in the cooperative relationship with government. For example under the serious situation of Fukushima Nuclear accident the EMT organized the layers of the impacted area including the information about indicating the locations of buildings, the evacuation situations in areas under directives to evacuate. Using those layers disaster responders simulated the necessity of human and material resources to support the evacuation operation.