We propose a three-year interdisciplinary effort to build on new advances in information technology to develop an adaptive real-time system for active management, processing, modeling and visualization of environmental and geoscience data. We believe that the rapidly evolving technology in communication, real-time instrument monitoring, GIS, and digital field data acquisition (mapping) allows us to propose a fundamental change in the paradigm by developing a set of real-time, integrated data base management and field data acquisition tools for rapid and adaptive assessment of the various phenomena, following and during major catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, or floods. Our interest is in real-time integration of the incoming information such that predictive models of expected site and structure response are continuously updated. Real time prediction requires a thorough understanding of the spatial and temporal nature of the phenomena and of all controlling parameters. However, to-date databases with sufficient sophistication and data density are at best very scarce and much of the predictive simulation effort is based on discontinuous and spatially random data. More importantly, the development of an adaptive data collection, management, modeling, and visualization system requires by its essence a multidisciplinary approach and the integration of a number of elements that are currently rapidly evolving along parallel and somewhat unconnected tracks. Thus, we see the interdisciplinary group effort as a unique opportunity to allow us to integrate our efforts in the following areas:
a) development of GIS database capable of real time updating with multiple streams of information;
b) adaptive digital field data acquisition/mapping;
c) development of robust, low cost, intelligent field instrumentation capable of real time data transmission; and
d) data visualization and adaptive modeling of the observed phenomena.
Ultimately, having such ability and access to such information on the web is obvious practical importance to the various entities engaged in dealing with disaster: police, firemen, local, state, and federal governments, utilities, and highway departments are among those most visible.