Development and implementation of a validation protocol for crisis maps: reliability and consistency assessment of burnt area maps

Abstract

Validation is an emerging topic in the field of geospatial information for emergency response. In the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative, the Services and Applications for Emergency Response project seeks to implement and validate the pre-operational version of Emergency Response Core Services. In that context, a dedicated effort has been made in the development and implementation of a comprehensive, product-oriented validation protocol tailored to crisis maps and data sets. This paper presents the approach for validation of crisis maps and its application in the context of rapid mapping of forest fires in Corsica during the summer of 2009. It also discusses the main challenges and the critical aspects of validation of geospatial information in emergency response services.

Keywords:

• validation protocol
• crisis mapping
• remote sensing
• forest fires

Acknowledgements

The Authors wish to thank: SERTIT and ONF (Office National des Forêts) for their helpfulness and their contribution to the field work; Lauren Rizzo for the photo-interpretation and Andrea Gerhardinger for helping to prepare the field campaign. This work has been supported with a grant from the European Commission's FP7-SPACE research and development project SAFER (grant no. 218802).