Cross-referencing Social Media and Public Surveillance Camera Data for Disaster Response
This addresses the problem of information gaps for emergency managers during disasters when traditional surveillance systems fail.
The researchers investigated whether social media could provide useful information when public surveillance cameras failed during Hurricane Irma in 2017, finding that geo-tagged Instagram and Twitter posts offered content and frequency data that could assist emergency responders.
Physical media (like surveillance cameras) and social media (like Instagram and Twitter) may both be useful in attaining on-the-ground information during an emergency or disaster situation. However, the intersection and reliability of both surveillance cameras and social media during a natural disaster are not fully understood. To address this gap, we tested whether social media is of utility when physical surveillance cameras went off-line during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Specifically, we collected and compared geo-tagged Instagram and Twitter posts in the state of Florida during times and in areas where public surveillance cameras went off-line. We report social media content and frequency and content to determine the utility for emergency managers or first responders during a natural disaster.