Connecting Social Media to Satellites

 

The Carbon Project today announced it was selected to work with George Mason University (GMU) to develop cloud-based tools for guiding mapping satellites or small UAVs during natural disasters - based on information from social media posts.

Hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes and blizzards can all cause massive disruption to transportation infrastructure. The ability of first responders and governments to direct needed resources to an area is often hampered by our ability to see what’s happening.  In this crowdsourcing project, large groups of people provide small bits of information that can give us a better understanding of real-time events. This information is used to help guide satellites or small UAVs onto trouble spots.

The effort developed and deployed a cloud-based geosocial networking application called the Carbon Scanner. The Scanner assesses the impact of natural events on transportation infrastructure using social media, alerts on trouble spots and helps guide satellites or UAVs to collect imagery for rapid mapping. Project partners include George Mason University, The Carbon Project, commercial companies and community representatives from US state and local governments. The project is funded by a grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA).

The project has already made good progress in designing, developing and deploying a functioning capability. We look forward to the second year, and developing new ways to push this valuable information to those who need it.

- Jeff

DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, findings and conclusions reflected in this article are the responsibility of the authors only and do not represent the official policy or position of the US Department of Transportation/RITA, or any State or other entity.

The Carbon Project, Geosocial Networking, CarbonCloud and Carbon Scanner are trademarks or registered trademarks of Carbon Project, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their owners.