Impediments to using GIS for real-time disaster decision support

This paper examines and evaluates the application of GIS for cyclone disaster riskmanagement, focusing on observations from a real-time emergency management disaster scenario held in Mackay in far north Queensland, Australia. Results from scenario observations and post-scenario interviews with riskmanagers highlight the limitations of GIS for real-time disaster planning. Limitations include the scale of spatial data and its suitability for regionalscale decision making and the risk manager's requirement for temporal detail rather than spatial detail. The paper also examines non-technical GIS impediments including custodianship and system implementation for disaster riskmanagement. Findings have shown that the use of GIS for urban disaster riskmanagement can readily fail due to implementation, user access and knowledge impediments, in addition to the availability of spatial data and models. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.