KEYWORDS: GIS, disaster, Open Systems,Distributed, Acquisition

ABSTRACT:

This paper discusses the merits and technical advantages of implementing the open Web Feature Server (WFS) and Web Map Server (WMS) standardsset forth by the OpenGIS Consortium; this will be presented in a concrete implementation of an Early Warning System (EWS) using open source software. A key topic in this paper is the distributed contribution and processing of information; the enabling of organizations to exert control over the extent and the timing oftheir information participation in the system, providing full privacy for participants while retaining all the benefits of the shared and distributed data gathering features of the system. The GIS technologies employed forthis system are open source and implement the OpenGIS Consortium standards WFS and WMS; we as IT Synergy will present the effects of reliance on open source software and standards on effectiveness. In this paper, we discuss the merits of a GIS serving as a technological base for an EWS and we present the findings from the development of such a system in terms of generating the requisite vertical and horizontal information flows between governmental and non-governmental participating agencies. The implementation of sophisticated open source web-based interfaces to the GIS serves further to reduce the barriers to participation - providing local government with an empowering participatory role more effective than the central government in crisis response times - and thereby enhancing system effectiveness. The concepts described in this paper have the potential to form an integral part of the Egyptian e-government initiative.