Atsushi Nara, Ph.D. - US grants

Effective evacuation during disastrous events is one of the most challenging issues for many local government agencies in U.S. This research project will develop a prototype integrated wildfire evacuation decision support system and create analytic tools that will be evaluated with evacuation planers and emergency resource managers. Our interdisciplinary research team will collaborate with the Office of Emergency Services (OES) of San Diego County, the San Diego/Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross, and 2-1-1 San Diego to develop this web-based system. This research will help emergency response agencies better understand public perceptions and needs during disastrous events, and create more effective evacuation plans for local communities. The research framework can be extended to other types of natural disasters (e.g., tsunami, hurricanes, flood hazards) with some modifications to cope with different needs of evacuation plans. The dynamic population density model developed in this project can be applied in urban planning, elections, business marketing, and facility management. The social perception analysis model and public opinion monitors can help other research domains such as traffic incident detection and public campaigns. One of the most valuable components in this project is the establishment of a resident feedback network by connecting registered local volunteers using a mobile phone application and an online forum. The project will also include involvement of graduate students, dissemination through various fora, including a project website and a discussion forum to involve multidisciplinary researchers. Three summer workshop meetings will be organized to facilitate future multidisciplinary collaborations among researchers and government agencies.

Using Big Data-driven techniques, this project will integrate multiple data sources including social media, census survey, geographic information systems (GIS) data layers, volunteer suggestions, and remote sensing data to develop an integrated wildfire evacuation decision support system (IWEDSS). This system will provide key functions for data collection, traffic demand modeling, evacuation operation, and information dissemination. It will offer scientifically-based and data-driven analytic tools for evacuation planers and government agencies to make better decisions that can reduce the evacuation time and potential number of injuries and deaths. The four main goals of this project are to (1) build a dynamic estimated population distribution (density) model in urban areas by integrating multiple data sources and GIS models; (2) design stage-based evacuation plans with population density distributions and develop robust optimization models to account for demand uncertainties; (3) create a public opinion monitor and a resident feedback network to improve evacuation plans by understanding social perception of the disasters in local communities through the real-time analysis of social media and volunteer suggestions; (4) build a web-based geospatial analytics platform and provide interactive decision support tools for decision makers, emergency resource managers, and public officers. This interdisciplinary project will rely upon a convergence among GIScience, cartography, civil engineering, transportation, and social media analytics to facilitate the transformation of traditional static evacuation planning procedures into a dynamic, user-centered, easy-to-use, and data-driven spatial decision support system.

The geospatial services industry is a profitable and rapidly growing field; however, employers find it difficult to hire scientists with expertise in both geography and computer science. The limited availability of training opportunities in both computer science and geography has created a shortage of workers with the necessary knowledge and skill sets for those jobs. Through a Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP), The Association of American Geographers (AAG), in collaboration with Texas State University, the University of California-Riverside, San Diego State University, the California Geographic Alliance, Sweetwater Union High School District, and San Diego Mesa College, will create an inclusive high school to college curriculum pathway that bridges concepts in computer science and geography. This RPP will support the development of a curriculum that is conceptually rigorous, inclusive, and culturally relevant. It will also produce a replicable approach for teaching geocomputation that is accessible and motivational for all learners.

The Association of American Geographers (AAG), in collaboration with Texas State University, the University of California-Riverside, San Diego State University, the California Geographic Alliance, Sweetwater Union High School District, and San Diego Mesa College, proposes a CSforALL-PreK-14 Pathways Strand project to scale up its Encoding Geography Researcher-Practitioner Partnership (RPP) activities in California. This RPP will pursue research and development activities supporting an inclusive curriculum pathway toward geocomputationally intensive majors and careers. The first year of the project will focus on baseline data collection. In year two, AAG will convene a workshop with RPP members to produce culturally relevant geocomputational lessons and being to implement those lesson in CS and geography courses in high school and college. In the final year, the RPP will revise the lessons for ongoing implementation. The AAG will also implement a dissemination plan to scale up the RPP across California and to other states. An expert committee will provide a formative and summative evaluation of the project. This RPP will produce a replicable methodology for articulating curriculum pathways in geocomputation that are inclusive, accessible, and motivational for all learners. By involving the very stakeholders with whom the curriculum is concerned, systemic change toward a more diverse workforce in geocomputation is more likely to be achieved.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.