Sorting facts from social noise

AUDIO: Ambient music plays

VISUAL: A collection of still images depicting bushfires and emergency services is shown under white text with a red background. 

TEXT ON SCREEN: When disaster strikes, timely and accurate data is critical to Emergency Services.

Crowdsourced data from people who are directly affected could help but how do you sort reliable information from the social noise? 

Researchers are tracking fire fronts using data from 000 calls. 

When planning and responding, emergency services rely on ground-based observations, high-res satellites and airborne infrared scanners.

But fast-moving perimeters of bushfires are hard to track.

An RMIT-led team used 000 calls made during the Black Saturday fires - which claimed 173 lives - and plotted them against the actual movement of the fires.

VISUAL: An animated map depicting the movement of the Black Saturday bushfires against the number of emergency calls received. 

TEXT ON SCREEN: They showed 000 calls can help track the movement of bushfires.  

It’s less accurate than infrared sensors, but their method allows information to be continually and automatically updated in real time, day and night.

The research could be used in future to help authorities track a rapidly-changing emergency and support the response to the disaster.

Shaping the world. 

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