The tragic Boston Marathon bombings were a reminder of how threats can emerge at any time on the home front. The new ‘uncertainty’ that this event ushered in reinforces the need for next-generation solutions for prevention and post-event investigations.
It also shined a light on how crowdsourced voluntarily contributed data plays a key role in helping bring justice to those who inflicted damage on U.S. citizens. Many organizations have already been using crowdsourced data, such as FEMA and others, for the past several years, especially with regard to responding to natural disasters. Crowdsourced data can provide immediate, first-hand intelligence on an unfolding event quickly and can often act as an invaluable source of detail in the post-event analysis.
With new innovations, organizations can use crowdsourced data to develop comprehensive visualization solutions that essentially recreate the event using video and photos. The event can also be viewed in a 3D format by integrating the data with Google Earth – providing a complete recreation of what occurred, making it easier to pinpoint potential suspects and other investigative clues.
This is a prime example of how these technologies can help aid in emergency response efforts. Though, we often overlook some of the more outside-of-the-box ways of using crowdsourced data and how its geospatial properties can provide a more robust picture.
For example, for any event, whether it is a concert, a wedding, or a sporting event, the organizers can create a downloadable app that time-stamps and geo-references all of the photos and videos taken. From there, the host of the event can create a 3D rendering of the event, which will allow it to live on forever for attendees. The tools to quickly and easily build these types of apps on-demand already exist and the more they are utilized, the more data will be generated for use and analysis.
However, unexpected tragedies create an environment where new innovations like these are tested and show their true value. Whenever we experience an event like the Boston Marathon bombings, first responders and local governments ask themselves, “How can we make sure this never happens again?”
Thankfully there are plenty of new technologies that can help in disaster situations and may even come to assist in their prevention, when possible. Under more pleasant circumstances, however, these innovations can be used in just about any situation for any industry vertical.
