IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v33y2006i3p435-456.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supporting Group Work in Crisis Management: Visually Mediated Human — GIS — Human Dialogue

Author

Listed:
  • Alan M MacEachren

    (GeoVISTA Center and Department of Geography, 302 Walker Building, University Park, Penn State University, PA 16802, USA)

  • Guoray Cai

    (GeoVISTA Center and College of Information Science and Technology, 332 Information Sciences and Technology Building, University Park, Penn State University, PA 16802, USA)

Abstract

Geospatial information is a fundamental component of many crisis management activities. However, current geospatial technologies do not support work by crisis management personnel, most of whom are not technology specialists—a key impediment is that the technologies require the user to learn the system's language. In addition, geospatial technologies are not ‘collaboration friendly’—they impede rather than facilitate group work. In this paper we address both issues by presenting (1) a theoretical framework for understanding the roles of visual mediation in map-supported human–human dialogues, and (2) a computational approach for enabling such roles in collaborative spatial decisionmaking contexts. Building upon our initial implementation of a map-mediated collaborative environment, the DAVE_G system [a natural, multimodal, dialogue-enabled interface to geographical information systems (GIS)], we model human–GIS and human–GIS–human dialogues as complex visual-cognitive signification processes in which maps become dynamic facilitators. Using a scenario simulating two crisis managers dealing with a major nuclear release event, we demonstrate how visual display (in DAVE_G) actively mediates human–human dialogue directed to situation assessment and action planning in real applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan M MacEachren & Guoray Cai, 2006. "Supporting Group Work in Crisis Management: Visually Mediated Human — GIS — Human Dialogue," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 33(3), pages 435-456, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:33:y:2006:i:3:p:435-456
    DOI: 10.1068/b3188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b3188
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b3188?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lawrence G. Mondschein, 1994. "The role of spatial information systems in environmental emergency management," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 45(9), pages 678-685, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhilei Pan & Shouwei Li, 2024. "Environmental emergencies and economic growth: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 1-22, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:33:y:2006:i:3:p:435-456. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.