From Crisis to Opportunity

Volunteered geographic information is a crucial tool in disaster response and recovery, transforming data collection and sharing. It has significantly improved disaster management by providing insights into urgent needs, damage estimation, and resource allocation. The distribution of VGI during relief efforts has greatly benefited from social media platforms, supplemented by hashtags and machine learning techniques. Mobile and web-based technologies and community involvement have improved coordination and decision-making. VGI is crucial for monitoring development, evaluating infrastructure, and assisting risk assessment during the recovery phase. It's important to pay attention to issues like data quality, privacy, inclusivity, complexity, obsolescence, appropriateness, accessibility, and technological infrastructure. Future studies should concentrate on automated systems for data validation, resolving privacy and security issues, and encouraging marginalized people to participate.