Ever wondered how citizen technology might be harnessed to help save lives? With so many amateur drone users on the ground, one University of Portsmouth Professor explains how this kind of data gathering can help emergency response teams in a disaster.

In addition to combining satellite imaging with drone data, Professor Richard Teeuw says that open-source software can be a great way to support sustainable development and support research in areas vulnerable to major natural events like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and storms.

He explains how vital information was gathered in the wake of Cyclone Harold and Hurricane Maria can help protect vulnerable people and infrastructure. He’s also passionate about keeping the costs low for developing nations to gather data and prevent future disaster.

What’s more, find out how he even helped tackle the harmful environmental and social effects of illegal gold mining in Columbia using remote sensing technology.

Points of Interest:

Professor Richard Teeuw at the University of Portsmouth

https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/richard-teeuw(fbe97ed2-5b77-4771-8552-d9bf8cfdfb5f).html

Using free data to reduce the risk of disaster in developing nations:

https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/uses-of-free-geoinformatics-for-disaster-risk-reduction-in-small-island-developing-states--a-case-study-from-honiara-solomon-islands(96efbef6-4982-4a54-8444-8a5010f5a6fe).html

Hurricane Maria

https://edition.cnn.com/specials/weather/hurricane-maria

Using low-cost UAVs and drones to survey hurricane damage

https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/lowcost-uav-surveys-of-hurricane-damage-in-dominica-automated-processing-with-coregistration-of-prehurricane-imagery-for-change-analysis(91353be6-759a-4e73-aa73-d0284aa47fe9).html

https://www.developmentaid.org/#!/news-stream/post/17476/hurricane-damage-survey-likely-to-help-worldwide

Tackling illegal gold mining with remote sensing:

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-aim-colombia-illegal-gold.html

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