Findings in Applied Geography Reported from University of North Texas (Ground truthing spatial disaster recovery metrics with participatory mapping in post-Katrina Mississippi)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Science Letter -- Researchers detail new data in Applied Geography. According to news reporting originating from Denton, Texas, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, "Quantitative approximations of community-level recovery are a mainstay in disaster science. These longitudinal spatial metrics, which chart the status of housing stock, economic indices, or demographic change post-disaster, aim to make the complex recovery process more understandable."

Funders for this research include National Science Foundation, University of South Carolina (see also Applied Geography).

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of North Texas, "The question remains, however, whether these technical approaches often imposed by outside researchers draw the same conclusions about recovery as do assessments made by community insiders who have lived through the process. To address this question, this study uses participatory mapping as a means to ground truth spatial disaster recovery metrics compiled from secondary data sources. Techniques for collecting, aggregating, and transforming qualitatively mapped data are detailed. Clustering techniques to ready longitudinal recovery metrics for comparison with the participant-derived data are also described."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Acknowledging that the best recovery measurements, whether qualitative or quantitative, should validate one another, this paper contributes to geographical scholarship on disasters by providing a method for conducting such cross-validation."

For more information on this research see: Ground truthing spatial disaster recovery metrics with participatory mapping in post-Katrina Mississippi. Applied Geography, 2018;99():63-76. Applied Geography can be contacted at: Elsevier Sci Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, Oxon, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Applied Geography - www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-geography/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting R.L. Schumann, Univ North Texas, Dept. of Emergency Management & Disaster Sci, Denton, TX 76203, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.08.003. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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