Overview
The Disaster Imaging Project is an internal project designed to demonstrate the value of public-private partnerships in gathering near real-time imagery after disasters. During the response and recovery phases after a disaster, decision makers suffer from a lack of quality, timely information about conditions in the impact area. Details such as the extent of physical damage, the status of infrastructure, and passable routes into and out of the area are consistently scarce.
As technology improves and the cost of remote sensing declines, local and state emergency managers are turning to manned aircraft, satellites, and small unmanned aircraft to provide immediate imagery of the effected areas. At the same time, private sector entities including insurance companies and utility providers have similar data needs and are collecting similar images. CDRP is partnering with public and private sector entities to safely collect, process, and deliver post-disaster imagery to support local and state disaster management efforts.
This project serves as a proof of concept that collaborative teams conducting post-disaster remote sensing data can fulfill the needs of public and private users in a safe and efficient manner.
Join the Project
The Disaster Imaging Project is an ongoing research effort that ties into many different CDRP inititives. We are looking for qualified public and private sector entities to collaborate on post-disaster image collection - past examples include utility companies (both public and investor-owned) and insurance companies. If your organization is interested, reach out to info@cdrp.net
All participants in the Disaster Imaging Project share collected data - this collaboration enables speed and efficiency and is the heart of the concept. By splitting the post-disaster workload among public and private resources and pooling imagery and data everybody wins. Public users such as local and state emergency managers gain critical insight and situational awareness, while private users such as insurance companies can quickly begin assessing damage and starting the claims adjusting process.
To participate, an organization must be willing to accept the direction of CDRP personnel, be willing to share all data collected, and meet the requirements listed below. There are no fees for participation in the post-disaster data collcetion, and all data collected by project participants is shared with all parties. Current and past participants include: local emergency management, state emergency management, insurance companies, private UAS operators, national service providers.
This project exists to move the use of post-disaster imagery forward, not to provide marketing opportunities for particpants. All release of data to parties outside of response agencies and project members is prohibited without the express written permission of CDRP. Particpation in this project is confidential. CDRP will not release participant information, including the name of partners, without written consent.
Benefits and Requirements
Benefits for private partner organizations:
- UAS team access to disaster impact area as part of the response/recovery effort. Project participants operate as part of the disaster response and recovery.
- Coordination and collaboration with response entities.
- Perpetual access and license to all imagery collected as part of the project in a given disaster.
- Technical support for data collection and processing.
- Abiltiy to capture and use low level sUAS imagery faster than possible otherwise.
Requirements for private partner organizations:
- Accept all liability for parter resources (including personnel/employees, vehicles, aircraft, and equipment). The Disaster Imaging Project provides no warranty and accepts no liability.
- Partners agree to share all imagery and data collected in and near the disaster impact area.
- Operate without reimbursement or monetary compensation. This is a proof of concept reseach effort - no one gets paid.
- Partners must be trained and certified by CDRP to safely operate in the disaster environment, including sUAS operation as well as incident command, safety, and resource integration.
Public entities such as emergency management agencies participate in the Disaster Imaging Project, primarily as consumers of the data collected.
Benefits for public partner organizations:
- Additional UAS resources beyond what is immediately available for response - at no cost.
- Technical support for data collection and processing.
- Abiltiy to capture and use low level sUAS imagery and products faster than possible otherwise.
- Utilize partner organizations hours worked as volunteer hours for Federal cost matching.
Requirements for public partner organizations:
- Accept CDRP and partner UA resources into the disaster impact area and provide access.
- Provide coordination with incident command structure.