Crowdsourcing for public safety

With advances in mobile technology, the ability to get real-time geographically accurate data, including photos and videos, becomes integrated into daily activities. Businesses use this technology edge to stay ahead of their competitors. Social media has made photo and video sharing a widely accepted and adopted behavior. This real-time data and information exchange, crowdsourcing, can be used to help first responders and personnel in emergency situations caused by extreme weather such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and snow storms. Using smartphones, civilians can contribute data and images to the recovery process and make it more efficient, which can ultimately save lives and decrease the economic impact caused by extreme weather conditions.