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RSPSoc Student Profile: Charlotte Saunders
Occupation: Research Analyst
University: University of Portsmouth
Research: Low Cost Mapping for Disaster Risk Reduction
Details of Research: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is concerned with the disaster management cycle in its entirety, but with a particular focus on prevention and preparedness. With initiatives being set up to share data and increase awareness, there is a wide range of freely-available geoinformatic data-sets now available, from digital elevation models (DEMs) and thematic digital maps, to multi-spectral satellite imagery, virtual globes, such as Google Earth, and public-participation GIS. Detailed mapping generally requires expensive high resolution satellite imagery or aerial photography and although Google Earth has a good track record for posting high-resolution imagery of disaster zones, it should be noted that these data-sets are usually dated and can produce misleading results. This research aims at developing a simple methodology for creating maps for use in DRR strategies using these free/low-cost data-sets and will try to focus on ways around issues such as aging satellites, outdated data and other limitations.
