{"id":964,"date":"2011-02-04T01:45:18","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T14:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/?p=964"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:24:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:24:52","slug":"mapping-australias-natural-disasters-space-and-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2011\/02\/04\/mapping-australias-natural-disasters-space-and-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Australia’s Natural Disasters: Space and Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Just<\/a>
Just one image from the Tully area after Cyclone Yasi hit. Source: cycloneupdate on Twitpic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet another natural disaster is unfolding in Queensland with tropical cyclone Yasi crossing the coast of Far North Queensland.\u00a0 There was not much sleep in our household on Wednesday night as we have family members who live right at the heart of the destructive forces of the cyclone.\u00a0 I resumed this post at around 1 am Thursday morning.\u00a0 Blogging while keeping an eye on Twitter and regular media is the best way of dealing with the anxiety.<\/p>\n

We had a phone call from our family near Tully at the height of the cyclone just after midnight.\u00a0 They asked when the eye of the cyclone would hit.\u00a0 Already they had lost some windows, had to nail a board over the door to stop it from opening and then a tree fell on their house.\u00a0 They had no electricity and little idea of when it was all going to end.\u00a0 Their house was swaying in the ferocious winds.<\/p>\n

We turned to the Bureau of Meteorology’s radar image and map<\/a> for the information that they needed.\u00a0 Maps are indispensable when dealing with a natural disaster.\u00a0 It is hard to understand the extent of the recent natural disasters in Australia without maps.\u00a0 Maps record the area or space, that has been affected by the disaster.\u00a0 Floods in Australia have been mapped since early settlement.\u00a0 In order to get a better perspective of this summer of disastrous weather conditions in Australia I have been referring to maps of the current situation as well as historical maps.<\/p>\n

Space<\/h3>\n

When we faced cyclones while living in the Atherton Tablelands outside Cairns we really appreciated the Bureau of Meteorology’s map showing the trajectory and size of the cyclone as well as its predicted path.\u00a0\u00a0 These maps are updated regularly while a cyclone is active.\u00a0 While the map that we referred to has been replaced, the map currently shows the history of the movement of this cyclone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are many maps of the flooding that has affected Australia in the last couple of months but they come in varying qualities.\u00a0 The following are my top three maps of the recent floods:<\/p>\n

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  1. Nearmap<\/a> high resolution photo and street map of Brisbane, 14\/1\/2011:\u00a0 This is a standout.\u00a0 The photos were taken at the height of the floods and from there Nearmap created a map that was quickly made publicly available.\u00a0 The resolution is so good that I was able to see the place I stayed in last year surrounded by the waters.<\/li>\n
  2. Esri Brisbane City Council Flood Map<\/a>:\u00a0 This is a streetmap without photos.\u00a0 However, I like the use of colour to demonstrate the reach of the floods on the map.\u00a0 This enables the reader of the map to understand the extent of the infiltration of floodwaters at a glance.<\/li>\n
  3. Australia Floods:\u00a0 An Interactive Map <\/a>by United Kingdom’s Guardian, 5\/1\/2011:\u00a0 Published at the beginning of January, this gives a great overview of the extent of flooding in central and southern Queensland.\u00a0 It gives the reader some perspective of the size of the floods by allowing them to see a map of the United Kingdom and Ireland superimposed on the flood map.\u00a0 Embedded photos of the flooding are well done.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Overall the quality of the flood maps for Brisbane were much higher than those mapping other places.\u00a0 This is a natural consequence of the larger population affected by floods in Brisbane than elsewhere.<\/p>\n

    Hats off to the people who produced these maps which have conveyed good information:<\/p>\n