In-Depth Geographic Information for Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina

A new web application, the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer, is now available from ESRI (CA, USA) to provide detailed information about areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The site allows the public, emergency responders, relief organisations, and others to locate an address or zoom to areas of interest and view areas declared ‘damaged’ by FEMA, affected delivery areas for the U.S. Postal Service, post-disaster satellite imagery, population density, street maps, and much more information. Visitors can also generate reports about people, housing, and businesses in the affected areas. The application is available online at the below link.

Deployed by ESRI using its ArcWeb Services technology and data products, the online mapping application was designed to provide people with continuously updated information to help them respond to the changing conditions of impacted areas.

Any interested person may locate available information using the viewer. In addition to requesting and viewing maps online, visitors are able to access and download printable maps or digital displays that can be inserted into other documents such as PowerPoint presentations. Visitors can also customise maps with the types of information they would like to see or by adding their own points of interest. As the response to the hurricane progresses over time, or as new hurricanes arise, the application will evolve to support changing needs and requests.

The Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer went live Saturday, 3 September 2005, and will remain available indefinitely in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The data presented in the viewer is provided directly by public and commercial organisations such as FEMA and the U.S. Postal Service. ESRI would like to extend special thanks to GlobeXplorer, Tele Atlas and Meteorlogix for the data they provided.