WebGIS for Disaster Management and Emergency Response

Introduction.- Basic Concepts of WebGIS.- Disaster Management Concepts.- Evolution of the Applications of GIS Technology for Disaster Management.- Earthquakes Applications.- Flood Modeling and Prediction Applications.- Infrastructure Modeling Applications.- Urban Emergency Management Scenarios.- Pandemics and Health Monitoring Applications.- Decision-making Constraints using WebGIS for Disaster Management and Emergency Response.- Application Challenges for WebGIS in Disaster Management and Emergency Response.

Dr. Rifaat Abdalla is Associate Professor of Geospatial Science with King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). During the past ten years, he served as Defence Scientist with Defence Research and Development Canada; the Federal Government of Canada research arm in Defense and Security research. In addition he was Adjunct Professor with the graduate program in Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Toronto, he also served as a contract faculty with the Geomatics Program, Ryerson University, Toronto (Canada). Dr. Abdalla received his Ph.D. from the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, York University in 2006, specialized in Web-based GIS Applications. He received his Masters in Environmental Systems Engineering, from the University of Regina, focusing on GIS and Remote Sensing Applications. Dr. Abdalla has published extensively in the field of Web-based GIS for Disaster Management and has received many recognitions and awards, including the 2007ESRI Best Scientific Paper, presented by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) for papers published in Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing Journal. Also, he is a recipient of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Ph.D. Scholarship and Post-doctoral Fellowship, Ontario Graduate Scholarship for Science and Technology Scholarship and the Best Paper Award of 2009 Conference on Geo-Web Services, held in Cancun, Mexico.