A Web and Mobile GIS for Identifying Areas within the Radius Affected by Natural Disasters Based on OpenStreetMap Data

Abstract

In many countries where natural disasters often occur, such as Indonesia, information about the area affected by the disaster is very important. As in the transportation sector, road users must avoid affected areas and roads. To overcome this problem, in this paper we propose a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify areas affected by natural disasters within a certain radius. We use a web-based and mobile platform to present an open access system. In addition, we utilize OpenStreetMap map data as a source of spatial database that is open, wide-scale, and complete. In the initial stage, polygon-shaped road data will be split in-to shorter line segments and stored in PostGIS Spatial DBMS. Furthermore, this system will automatically detect road segments that included within the radius of a natural disaster event. Displays of road segments affected by disasters will be accessible to users through web and mobile applications. In addition, we also test and evaluate our system in case studies in certain areas in Indonesia.