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October 24, 2007
Track California Fires with Mashups & Twitter
You may not think that mashups and twitter have any relevance to your life. Okay, I'll admit, I've been having a hard time thinking of practical uses for twitter, myself. But when you're threatened by fire, there's no such thing as too much information. I'm not in a fire area this time around, but just about anyone who lives in California knows someone who is. Forget hourly updates, when fire is involved a minute by minute account can be critical. With so many fires in such large areas going on all at once, watching the news for information on evacuation areas and fire perimeters can be decidedly unsatisfying. TV news can't report on every fire in every neighborhood when there's so many burning at the same time.
But when KPBS, a local San Diego public radio station, combines information collected by their reporters with the detailed geographical details offered by Google Maps, you end up with a very valuable example of a mashup that shows detailed information on evacuations, shelter locations, and as of 57 minutes ago, a Metrolink shut down. Icons show evacuation centers for displaced people and animals, and areas that are safe for return.
The L.A. Times offers a similar mashup showing the fires currently burning in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties, some of which are threatening homes, but not getting as much air time as the huge conflagration in San Diego.
The KPBS Twitter feed logs short, random bits of information, allowing the dissemination of up to the minute news including reports of blocks where homes were destroyed and roads closed, making the twitter feed a social networking tool with a serious purpose.
Traditional news leveraged by quick and easy web applicaitons can have an significant impact in desperate times.
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