Community-Based Risk Assessment 1

using Online GIS Services
Ayman M Ismail - Mona Shaban

Architectural Engineering Department,
Fayoum University, Cairo, Egypt
Fields of Research
1. Integrated GIS informal sector Decision Suppor
2. Smart Energy Urbanism
3. Community Empowerment using PGIS tools
4. Urban Risk Modeling in Dilapidated Areas
5. Preservation of peri-urban agricultural lands
6. Historical Areas Preservation
7. Spatial Property Valuation Modeling
URBAN RISK MANAGEMENT
Community
Based Disaster
Problems preventing
Management
Urban Risk reduction
Serious disintegration between hazardous events

and sources mapping, decision-and policy- making
and urban planning.
Urban Risk Huge community risk illiteracy rates (risk

awareness and reduction) in pre-disaster activities
(forecasting, mitigation, and early warning
systems)
The increased reliance on non-local models
(imported) and complex programs for risk
assessment create a cultural communication barrier
between planners and the community, especially in
poor areas with weak awareness.
Local The lack of official data input resources and
Community hazard mapping with low budgets and weak
governance especially in poor areas
The relative lack of interest/priority in disaster

risk reduction and environmental studies by national
agencies, research institutes, and social
organizations
1. Which urban risk assessment
approach is best for the local
Valid Questions community (qualitative / semi-
qualitative /quantitative) given the
conditions of Egypt?
2. How much can new online GIS hub
platforms can assist in Community
Urban Risk Assessment
3. Which platforms/apps are best
suited to compile and analyse
crowd generated inputs in complex
areas?
4. What are possible alternatives to
crowd sourced date when ‘volume’
and ‘credibility’ could not be
guaranteed.
Objective
To develop a simple participatory risk

assessment methodology applied using GIS
and mobile android applications with the
following conditions:
• Non-intrusive appropriate to local culture

• Accessible to urban areas under threat.
• Smart used with judgement
• Inexpensive (as free as possible)
Major Decisions
Collection
Collector
Tool/App
Crowds? Developed?
Specialists? Custom?
Collector
The Case for Crowd sourcing

• New wave for data
democratization,
Controlled or ‘Semi-Crowd’ Sourcing
• Transforming common people from
content readers into publishers.
• Shift from a broadcast mechanism, a hand-picked group of volunteer
1-n, to a n-n model. architecture students/junior
architects/planners
Not entirely true and needs some Who ‘enable’ the community by
refinement. collecting and surveying data from
• Spatial illiteracy and cultural factors the local community.
• Reliability and credibility.
In some cases a semi-formal

format of volunteered
geographic information is
needed (VGI): who?
Collector
Why ‘Semi-Crowd’?
 Its not just data, its judgemental
 Must consider both social and
scientific forces / political and
technical factors.
 Can appreciate the urban
morphology of the street pattern
and land use dynamics
Architects/planners are trained to see both

form and function, to consider existing non-
physical aspects such as the cultural, social
and economic realities of the community.
They have a civic responsibility and
accustomed to deal with informal area
residents.
Collection
Tool/App
Collection
Tool
May the ‘Apps’ be with You..
Collection
Tool
Evaluating the Apps
Insta- GIS-cloud
Collector for Ushahidi Supersurv.
Applications survey MDC
ArcGIS 10.3 3.9 M3 3.2
Features 2.0 1.5.4
GPS   
- -
Coordinating
Offline 
- - - -
Processing
Direct WebGIS 
- - - -
connectivity
Easy Forms 
- - - -
and Tables
Adding New     
data Points
Multi-user     
Sharing
Free use   - - 
 Capital of Fayoum governorate
 90 km SW of Cairo.
 Population 3 million
 Track history of urban

disasters, especially urban fires.
 Oldest part of the city
 A public market place with many
old traditional bazaars
 Its their home origin and
livelihood.
• If no authoritative source is available for Urban
Risk Assessment,
• how can we alternatively assess the urban

environment’s ‘potent risk’ before a disaster ?
• Are the community aware of that risk ?
• Are they prepared ?

RISK WITH FIELD COLLECTED PERCEPTIONS
Steps
1. GIS ArcMap desktop 2. ArcGIS online
Digitizing Base Map • adding layers to new map

Forming survey layers and tables • saving a project map
share as service to ArcGIS online • sharing with apps and users
ArcGIS
online
4. GIS ArcMap desktop 3. Collector Application
• sharing data from ArcGIS • collecting data and site survey

online sever
• adding data to map and attribute
• assessing and analyzing tables
risks and perceptions
Steps : paper Survey Authority
1:500 scale maps
were digitized
: Building footprint and

Digitizing paper parcel maps using Esri’s condition attributes were added.
ArcMap 10.2.2 (TM) desktop : Roads width, condition,
Preparing Survey feature layers (point, integration values attributed were
collected and stored.
polygon) with attribute fields and domains
value Description
0 Paved roads accessible to vehicles
1 Deteriorated paving with limited vehicular access
2 Deteriorated paving with dead ends and no vehicular access
value Description
1 Concrete floor and columns
2 Brick wall carrier
3 Old deteriorating
4 Destructed old building
value Description
1 Commercial storing clothing/wood/...
2 Commercial with Solid waste assembling
3 Workshops and craftsman with flammable supplies
Testing Preparedness (reducing and mitigating risk)
1.Communication tools e.g. mobile phone, landline, car
or vehicle, first aid tools e.g. fire extinguisher, medical kit.
2.Trust level in relief
Steps 3.Willingness to Change (e.g. Income, volunteering
Establishing Domains for Field Surveyors

published online to ArcGIS online as service
(Share as service) with editing
privileges
Testing Preparedness (reducing and mitigating risk)
1.Communication tools e.g. mobile phone, landline, car
or vehicle, first aid tools e.g. fire extinguisher, medical kit.
Steps 2.Trust level in relief
3.Willingness to Change (e.g. Income, volunteering
Preparing Collector Feature Layers for Field

Surveyors
Setting Roles and Privileges of Surveyors
Going to the field and hoping for the best

Steps
All data automatically uploaded to the map

project on the ArcGIS
ArcMap desktop is opened and Spatial
Analyst used to perform Density,
Road Name Road_Width Condition

Mostafa_kamel 12 0
elhoria 12 0
omar_abdelaziz 7 0
elnafea 4 1
elsheikh_salem 2 1
h_salem 2 1
z_salem 2 2
a_salem 2 1
dala_basha 4 0
beltagy 3 1
z_abosebeha3 2 1
z_dala 2 1
h_elnafea 3 1
abo_elhebal 6 0
Findings
Where is the Vulnerability Gap?
Preparedness higher along the perimeter of the site, major threat sources to both lives and livelihoods
probably associated with richer merchants accumulated along two axes in the core of the study area.
(high fire risk, building collapse, inaccessibility).
Where is the Trust Factor?
 High trust factor in local support
(Community Appreciation of Local
Support) at the core of site where poorer
groups among hazardous areas are.
 It would seem the higher the risk and
the poorer the community, the more
internal trust there is.
 A close- knit community fabric exists ,
giving hope and direction
 Architects of the team found these
groups created their own associations to
help each other in case of death, illness
or financial crisis. Using this locally-
owned association in support of risk
reduction and mitigation can be the start
for architects to volunteering in social
activities and changing current situation
indirectly.
Conclusions
1. The proposed approach to Community Urban Risk Management using
ArcGIS Hub and its associated app (Collector) for field data collection is a
reasonable, inexpensive and easy to develop given a selected group
of semi-crowd sourced data collectors.
2. The approach can be a secondary or a complementary alternative to
non-existent authoritative Urban Risk Assessment plans. It responds
to many of the limitations hampering poor and marginalized communities to
cope with risk reduction.
3. The new approach has demonstrated that junior architects /planners
can be used as trusted collectors/enablers and also future
mobilizers who will play the key role in raising community awareness and
bridge the gap between community and specialists.
4. Risk is always best assessed at a local level because it is based on a
dynamic interaction between physical and social factors that are rarely
captured by aerial snapshots and predictive models.
5. There is a need for local research to understand the quantitative and
qualitative risk-accumulation processes, the key actors and the causal
processes that are particular to each city and city-district.
Conclusions
6. We need to create a locally owned process of risk identification and
reduction involving local authorities, NGOs and local community
as the reliance on government alone failed to perceive how serious disaster
risk is until a disaster event occurs. Unfortunately, still most citizens are
reluctant to act, as they see this as the responsibility of governments.
7. Collector for ArcGIS 10.3 Issues: although is yet the best available
application for collecting data and editing in field, it has some limitations:
– Collector needs to be dynamically connected to the ArcGIS online server. Adding layers from
ArcMap Desktop are not automatically found on Collector, they have to be re-saved and re-
shared on the ArcGIS online.
– Login bugs leeds user to ‘no maps’ and not to the collector-set service.
– Adding ability to comment or add meta-date online on tables will be more helpful for
collectors and more suitable to irregularities in the field
– Adding some guiding slides and tips to the applications starting window
Thank You

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using Online GIS Services

Ayman M Ismail - Mona Shaban

Serious disintegration between hazardous events

Urban Risk Huge community risk illiteracy rates (risk

The relative lack of interest/priority in disaster

To develop a simple participatory risk

• Non-intrusive appropriate to local culture

The Case for Crowd sourcing

In some cases a semi-formal

Architects/planners are trained to see both

 Track history of urban

• how can we alternatively assess the urban

• Are the community aware of that risk ?

• Are they prepared ?

Digitizing Base Map • adding layers to new map

4. GIS ArcMap desktop 3. Collector Application

• sharing data from ArcGIS • collecting data and site survey

: Building footprint and

Steps 3.Willingness to Change (e.g. Income, volunteering

Establishing Domains for Field Surveyors

Preparing Collector Feature Layers for Field

All data automatically uploaded to the map

Road Name Road_Width Condition

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