Collaborative GIS for Request of Construction Equipment in Disaster Response

Efficient allocation of resources is critical to disaster response operations. Difficulties within resource allocation operations for disaster response have been identified. There is lack of detail information, including geospatial attributes, of available resources. Moreover, current resource request procedures are not systematically organized with automation. In addition, there is no automated decision model that takes input demand from real-time resource requests and input supply from geospatial resource databases. A prototype platform for resource allocation using Geographic Information System is developed which includes 1) a prototype geospatial database which serves as a resource repository 2) client-server architecture software for resource request through mobile devices, and 3) a decision model for allocation of available resources to demand locations. The supply and demand information will be automatically fetched as inputs for the decision model, and result decisions will be produced and shown through the GIS platform to logistics managers, decision makers, and first responders.