Cartography and geoinfomation for early warning and emergency management

The nature of environmental disasters makes measuring, monitoring and mapping, using sophisticated geospatial analysis tools, extremely valuable in understanding the geography of disasters. Early warning systems, real-time and predictive models, along with community awareness programs, benefit from the information generated using computer systems that can integrate data from multiple sources. The common base is the geographical location and extent of the impact of the disaster. Cartographers are skilled in the analysis of spatial data and the presentation of these data as information products to support the management of disasters. This chapter uses case studies to develop discussion into environmental disasters by considering the key information product deliverables; community vulnerability; the geospatial information creator and the geospatial information users.