However, recent disasters have also shown shortcomings in existing technologies and policies. Pertinent among these are the many barriers that exist in making available and providing the most appropriate (geo-)information and making systems co-operate. Up until now data has been searched by human beings. Automation is provided, but within a specific domain and carrying out dedicated tasks, and thus incapable of delivering intelligence to heterogeneous multi-user groups. The challenges in sharing and analysing geo-information are crucial. Most current geo-data is designed, stored and managed by organisations each under normal conditions having its own mandate and operating largely independently of one another. Because such data is not designed to work in a multidisciplinary environment its interoperability is limited.
Systems for disaster management are moving up national, and even supranational government political agendas, including that of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency (UN-SPIDER). Research has been initiated in the effort to find service-oriented knowledge-based utilities to support interoperability of geo-information in crisis response. One EU initiative is INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) for harmonisation of geo-information and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). The EU has also funded many large projects, including defining services (ORCHESTRA), developing data models (WIN), monitoring and data-processing of in-situ sensor networks (OSIRIS), co-operation between different systems (OASIS), and developing integrated alert systems (CHORIST).
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