State Challenge - Evacuation

Sponsored by the Queensland Government on behalf of the:

• Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management

Evacuation - help us get away! - Help your community get to safety during evacuations.

Description

• Queensland is prone to natural disasters. Flood, storm surge and bushfire can all threaten our communities.
• The decision to evacuate away from a hazard is a critical one. Evacuation can be difficult, both for authorities and the individuals concerned.
• Help disaster managers to better plan for evacuations, and help keep the community aware of what might happen if the evacuation need arises.

Concept

This year we’re focussing on evacuation; the biggest and most complex challenge for disaster managers to protect communities.

How can GovHackers help? Our challenge is for GovHackers to develop an app, index or game that could help planners to deal with a real evacuation challenge. The focus could be on a specific place or city, or cover the whole of Queensland. It may answer one or more of the questions below, using openly available datasets.

Problems

1. Which communities in Queensland might require most help to evacuate? 
   You could consider
   • The natural hazards and population at risk
   • The vulnerable due to age, language barriers, disabilities, lack of communication and transport, or visiting the area (i.e. holidaying or transient workers)
2. Who needs to go first when there is a need to evacuate? 
   You could consider
   • Who is most at risk
   • Who has special needs
   • Who is most vulnerable
3. How should I get out?
   You could consider
   • When should I go
   • Where should I go
     • How can I get there and what assistance might I need

Type

To raise awareness of public safety, we'd like GovHackers to use open datasets and web services in an app, index, website, or game that would help disaster managers to better plan for evacuations, and help keep the community aware of what might happen if the evacuation need arises.

Datasets

To be eligible to win you must use at least one of the data sets provided for this challenge hosted on Open Data Portal, but you are free to use data from the official GovHack list or any other data sets as long as their licensing terms permit.

Useful search terms: govhack 2016, Evacuation, flood, fire, storm, resilience, emergency, disaster, crash, child care, housing, building, youth, age, school, community, maps and geospatial and many others.

Potential datasets and web services available from Open Data Portal will be flagged i.e. govhack 2016. GovHackers are encouraged to consider other data sources including the links provided to national data.

User/audience/target market

Community, emergency or disaster management sector, community services, local government authorities, other state government departments.

Appeal

Improved emergency response capabilities, better quality information for state and local authorities in emergency or disaster response situations, safer communities.

Uniqueness

The concept of planning for evacuation is not new. However, this Office is not aware of a specific tool to support such planning.

Enabling

Most of the foundation data is available and current technology could support evacuation planning.

Assessment and Scoring

Submissions will be assessed on how well GovHackers meet the following criteria:

1. Addresses the components of the challenge
2. Innovation and uniqueness
3. Functionality
4. Viability and marketability
5. Benefit to Queenslanders

Other useful links

You will find a comprehensive listing of Australian organisations that are publishing open data at the Open Data Institute of Queensland (ODIQ).

Good luck GovHackers

The Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management