Florida International University is augmenting its TerraFly technology by adding support of visualization of scientific measurement aggregation through space and time with a specific applicability to the coastal and near-coastal areas affected by the Gulf Oil Spill. FIU is assembling data, developing and prototyping algorithms and to support specification of special-purpose functions, data analysis, visualization, and knowledge discovery.
This project deals with a severe urgency with regard to availability of, and access to, data and involves quick-response research on the economic impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on coastal communities. New forms of analytical queries needs to be efficiently supported. For example, an insurance company may need to have the following complex query answered: "For any given property, in aggregate for areas, find the value decrease impact that the oil spill had on the property or properties; by correlation of value changes in Florida Panhandle to percentage change of similarly zoned properties elsewhere, adjusted for similar land use (zoning), property size, distance to Water, and near-coastal and coastal oil contamination". The algorithms and prototype system being developed enable the temporal querying, cross-referencing, visualization, and analysis of geospatial data, including time series multi-temporal aerial imagery, multi-temporal measurement and economic data, and vast existing static geospatial databases. This research enables analysis of differences in imagery and vectors, allows querying differences per location, and the posing of a range of questions pertaining to the economic impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on coastal communities.
Results of this RAPID project will allow researchers, stakeholders, and the general public to access, query and analyze relevant databases via flexible graphic interfaces. FIU and extramural researchers will have access to multi-temporal high-resolution imagery and vector data. A system-to-system XML access will enable all academic researchers to use the project's GeoQuery system. The project's data and graphic interface to queries, both user-definable and pre-defined, will be accessible via the project web site (http://terrafly.fiu.edu/r.htm).
Disasters, such as the Gulf Oil Spill or hurricanes, cause severe social and economic damage. Their impact, greatly based on time and place, is difficult to analyze. A particular sector being affected is real estate. The resale value of properties in or near the damaged areas is greatly influenced by the effect of these disasters. A critical capability for rapid response to a disaster involves being able to quickly provide updated information in a specified region. We have improved these capabilities relative to the Gulf Oil Spill by assembling and analyzing data and by developing and prototyping algorithms allowing a variety of key analysis functions to be defined, analyzed, and visualized. The main goal of the project was to augment the TerraFly data analysis algorithms in order to support the analysis and visualization of this data, particularly regarding affected areas on or near the coast, and to improve longer-term impact analysis. The project also aimed at being able to analyze the effect of such disasters on the value of properties. TerraFly is a Geographic Information System developed at Florida International University, currently serving worldwide web map requests over 125 countries and regions, providing customized aerial photography, satellite imagery, and layers of data including street names, restaurants, services, and demographic data. It is easy to use, with no installation required and no programming skills needed to run it, allowing users to visualize and manipulate spatial data with a few clicks and receive accurate results. The TerraFly Application Programming Interface allows production of interactive online applications and has been used to produce systems for disaster mitigation, ecology, real estate, tourism, and municipalities. TerraFly's Web-based interface is accessible from anywhere via any standard Web browser, with no client software to install. The system also supports the MapQL technology, a mechanism to easily visualize geographical data and analysis results that allows users to personalize the map visualizations using simple statements resembling the SQL database query language. The TerraFly System was extended with new functions able to estimate the impact of events such as hurricanes and oil spills on real estate. The analysis of the disaster's impact can be carried out on the TerraFly GeoCloud online data analysis system. Users can use the data available in the system or upload their own data, edit it, perform analysis, and visualize as well as share the results. The newly developed TerraFly algorithms enable users to analyze and visualize Disaster Impact on Property Values based on the address and factors including, among others, real estate type, disaster type, and time period. The Gulf Oil Spill as well as Hurricanes Andrew and Wilma were used as examples. This project has provided new techniques for analyzing the economic impacts of disasters, and has impacted disaster mitigation research by providing effective and easy-to-use tools needed by disaster managers. The enabled research also benefits applications in environmental monitoring, transportation, education, public health and safety. The research was implemented on top of the TerraFly platform and can be used as a resource by other researchers, professionals, and general public. The interactive tools are accessible at http://TerraFly.com and http://uc.fiu.edu/RAPID.
