Aerial imagery can play a key role in helping mitigate the growing threat of natural disasters in addition to providing crucial information to assist emergency responses to catastrophes like the 2019/20 bushfire crisis and the 2022 floods.
In its 2023 report Future Proofing Australia’s Resilience, the Insurance Council of Australia predicted that costs associated with extreme weather events were projected to double by 2050 as bushfires, cyclones, and floods increased in severity and frequency.
Daniel Paull, executive vice president and general manager of Nearmap Australia and New Zealand said with high-cost catastrophic events likely to impact communities at least once a year, geospatial intelligence would play a crucial role in helping governments and local authorities better prepare for bushfires, cyclones, severe storms, and other catastrophes.
“The power to leverage technology, data, and insights, such as Nearmap location intelligence, is a key step in helping prepare for and respond to disasters in the most effective way possible.’’
“While the window for mitigation for the 2023 bushfire season has passed, with parts of the country already experiencing bushfires, having accurate data and up-to-date content can help kickstart mitigation plans for the 2024 season,’’ Mr Paull said.
Demand for Nearmap content has increased dramatically since it conducted its first aerial imagery capture in 2007. Its first post-disaster capture occurred after the 2011 Brisbane floods, debuting a product known as Nearmap ImpactResponse which is now a subscription service providing high-resolution imagery and AI data following major-impact events.
The number of disasters captured by ImpactResponse has increased more than fivefold since 2020, when the nation was battling the aftermath of the bushfire crisis, while the area the company covers has also increased over the same time.
With cameras made at its Barangaroo, Sydney headquarters capable of capturing on-the-ground images with a Ground Sampling Distance of 5.5cm to 7.5cm from an aircraft at between 8,000–20,000ft, Nearmap has been called on by a range of emergency service responders and relief organisations as Australia has battled the elements in recent years.
Red Cross Australia was one disaster relief organisation that turned to Nearmap imagery in the wake of the bushfires as it tried to roll out aid to help fire victims scattered from Queensland to South Australia.
Almost 3000 homes were destroyed in the inferno which burned 17 million hectares, creating a mammoth task for the Red Cross as it allocated $200 million of aid in the form of $70,000 grants to affected households.
“I was really impressed with the clarity of Nearmap imagery,’’ said John Santiago, ex-Red Cross business analyst.
“We looked at other GIS providers that are active in this space, but Nearmap provided the most clarity.’’
He said the resolution of the Nearmap images was much higher than that available by some other sources such as satellites and its aircraft could cover a significantly wider area than drones, which were limited by the range of their batteries. With a land mass of 4,405 square kilometres, a drone flight plan for Kangaroo Island revealed that the imagery collection would have taken the energy of over 11,000 batteries.
As disaster frequency has increased, Nearmap has expanded its suite of services.
Mr Paull said as soon as the skies cleared after a disaster, Nearmap took to the air capturing detailed images.
“We can have imagery online within days of flying a survey and that is giving anyone who is taking part in the response and recovery process a measurable and verifiable picture of what has happened on the ground,’’ Mr Paull said.
“This gives government or insurance companies the ability to look at a large area – suburb, or region – and get an idea of what they’re going to be dealing with before they have even had a chance to get there,’’ Mr Paull said.
Artificial Intelligence is applied to the images, using Nearmap AI, which can access more than 78 data layers at scale, which can show the outlines of buildings still under water, in the case of a flood, or structures which have been damaged by fire, or storm.
The level of detail can extend to roof type and material, vegetation, tree overhang, vegetation debris, junk and wreckage, temporary roof repairs, structural damage and more.
Where historical imagery exists, this can be compared with images captured before the event to determine the extent of damage.
Capabilities also exist to activate AI data layers in post-disaster imagery to generate a ‘traffic-light’ system for damage analysis: red indicating destroyed structures, orange for damaged, and green for undamaged. Colour-coding the damage across a wide area could help triage response and recovery efforts, and could provide a more comprehensive picture to insurers.
Nearmap 3D could also be combined with Nearmap Near Infrared as a mitigation tool. While height measurement can help in ascertaining the extent of damage, it could also be used to assess bushfire risk in relation to analysing AI data about vegetation and buildings.
Nearmap Near Infrared has the capacity to identify incremental vegetation changes over time which can prove useful in disaster prevention and response.
Apart from facilitating a quick capture of potential damage, aerial imagery and location intelligence allows visual access to areas which may be cut off, inaccessible, or dangerous.
Richard Adams, previous National Director of Disaster Relief Australia, said Nearmap imagery allowed the organisation to assess a wide area, assess damage to properties at scale and provided improved situation awareness for its 2500 volunteers as it assisted Bushfire Recovery Victoria respond to the 2019/20 bushfire crisis.
“When there’s a lack of situational awareness, people get distracted,’’ he said.
“Nearmap provides us the solution we need to maximise our resources and provide the greatest benefit to our communities.’’
Learn more about emerging technology that can assist with disaster response and recovery by downloading this whitepaper.
