The University of Melbourne, IBM, and National ICT Australia (NICTA) have partnered to develop the Australia Disaster Management Platform (ADMP) in response to the impact and cost of natural and man-made disasters on property and infrastructure in the past decade.
ADMP, an open standards-based IT platform, will be developed and implemented in collaboration with emergency services while building on existing information.
It will be designed to gather, integrate and analyse geo-spatial and infrastructure information from multiple data sets to create real-time practical information streams on disaster events.
The overall goal is to improve disaster management, protect communities, and “potentially save lives.”
“As well as enabling real-time situational awareness, the information streams will be used to develop simulation and optimisation models within available and changing constraints,” according to a statement.
ADMP will therefore inform decision-making by communicating appropriate information through various channels to the right people. This includes central coordinating agencies, through to on-ground emergency services personnel and the local community.
In its initial stages, researchers will undertake a pilot that will utilise the buildings and related information of selected urban Melbourne areas. The researchers will develop proofs of concept by studying how to provide decision support that facilitates efficient evacuation during emergency situations.
