Eva Mulíčková

Automated generation of tactile maps

ABSTRACT The Support Centre for Students with Special Needs at Masaryk University (the Teiresias Centre) in Brno, Czech Republic asked the team at the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science to develop a technological procedure for the preparation of tactile maps from available sources of data. Most users would be blind and visually impaired students of Masaryk University. A set of scripts in Python language was prepared for the ArcGIS environment. The scripts prepare the source data, modify the layers, generate the layout of map sheets and export map sheets. The grid of map sheets covers the whole area of Brno City. Printed map sheets are combinable into larger areas. The scale of each map sheet is 1:2500.

Flood Management and Geoinformation Support within the Emergency Cycle (EU Example)

Paper describes the state-of-the-art of flood management both in the Czech Republic and in the broader framework of EU. Special focus is given to geoinformation and cartographic issues within consecutive parts of emergency management cycle used in European Union countries (prevention, preparation, response, and recovery phases). For each phase an adaptive mapping solution is outlined. The principles of adaptive cartography and its applications are described.

Process Support and Adaptive Geovisualisation in Emergency Management

A multidisciplinary approach is key element in current emergency management research. This chapter illustrates issues of defining, formalising, and visualising geodata content within emergency management and combines them with process modelling and procedures analysis. We compare existing US and EU attitudes in emergency management organisational and geoinformation needs and analyse the situation within the Czech Republic. Because of the overall complexity of emergency management, the solution is proposed for a specific scenario dealing with traffic accidents and the transportation of dangerous substances. We answer the following questions: Who are the main actors within this scenario and what roles do they play? What geoinformation must be delivered in order to successfully complete the emergency response? Which geovisual techniques are appropriate? We propose adaptive cartographic representations based on an analysis of user roles and types of emergency situations.