A prerequisite for improving road safety are reliable and consistent sources of information about traffic and accidents, which will help assess the prevailing situation and give a good indication of their severity. In many countries there is under-reporting of road accidents, deaths and injuries, no collection of data at all, or low quality of information. Potential knowledge is hidden, due to the large accumulation of traffic and accident data. This limits the investigative tasks of road safety experts and thus decreases the utilization of databases. All these factors can have serious effects on the analysis of the road safety situation, as well as on the results of the analyses.

This dissertation presents a three-tiered conceptual model to support the sharing of road safety–related information and a set of applications and analysis tools. The overall aim of the research is to build and maintain an information-sharing platform, and to construct mechanisms that can support road safety professionals and researchers in their efforts to prevent road accidents. GLOBESAFE is a platform for information sharing among road safety organizations in different countries developed during this research.

Several approaches were used, First, requirement elicitation methods were used to identify the exact requirements of the platform. This helped in developing a conceptual model, a common vocabulary, a set of applications, and various access modes to the system. The implementation of the requirements was based on iterative prototyping. Usability methods were introduced to evaluate the users’ interaction satisfaction with the system and the various tools. Second, a system-thinking approach and a technology acceptance model were used in the study of the Swedish traffic data acquisition system. Finally, visual data mining methods were introduced as a novel approach to discovering hidden knowledge and relationships in road traffic and accident databases. The results from these studies have been reported in several scientific articles.

Road accident statistics are collected and used by a large number of users and this can result in a huge volume of data which requires to be explored in order to ascertain the hidden knowledge. Potential knowledge may be hidden because of the accumulation of data, which limits the exploration task for the road safety expert and, hence, reduces the utilization of the database. In order to assist in solving these problems, this paper explores Automatic and Visual Data Mining (VDM) methods. The main purpose is to study VDM methods and their applicability to knowledge discovery in a road accident databases. The basic feature of VDM is to involve the user in the exploration process. VDM uses direct interactive methods to allow the user to obtain an insight into and recognize different patterns in the dataset. In this paper, I apply a range of methods and techniques, including a paradigm for VDM, exploratory data analysis, and clustering methods, such as K-means algorithms, hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC), classification trees, and self-organized-maps (SOM). These methods assist in integrating VDM with automatic data mining algorithms. Open source VDM tools offering visualization techniques were used. The first contribution of this paper lies in the area of discovering clusters and different relationships (such as the relationship between socioeconomic indicators and fatalities, traffic risk and population, personal risk and car per capita, etc.) in the road safety database. The methods used were very useful and valuable for detecting clusters of countries that share similar traffic situations. The second contribution was the exploratory data analysis where the user can explore the contents and the structure of the data set at an early stage of the analysis. This is supported by the filtering components of VDM. This assists expert users with a strong background in traffic safety analysis to be able to intimate assumptions and hypotheses concerning future situations. The third contribution involved interactive explorations based on brushing and linking methods; this novel approach assists both the experienced and inexperienced users to detect and recognize interesting patterns in the available database. The results obtained showed that this approach offers a better understanding of the contents of road safety databases, with respect to current statistical techniques and approaches used for analyzing road safety situations.

This paper presents results from a mapping study commissioned by Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), which has supported regional and global networking within the field of culture. The mapping study was carried out in East Africa to find ways to collect and use experiences already made and to draw conclusions on the status and use of ICT in the culture networks supported by Sida. Another goal was to gain an understanding of the level to which ICT is used within the cultural sectors in East Africa. The study was focused on two main cultural sectors - museums and drama/theatre. A variety of research methods were used. It was found that there were well-established culture networks in both theatre and museum sectors. Through these networks, ICT has been used for sharing knowledge as well as being a tool for communication. Also it has supported dialogue among many different culture groups in the region. © (2009) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.

In recent years, the use of formal tools in information system modeling and development represents a potential area of research in computer science. In 1967, the term ontology appeared for the first time in computer science literature as S. H. Mealy introduced it as a basic foundation in data modeling. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the concept of ontology (from a philosophical perspective) as it was used to bridge the gap between philosophy and information systems science, and to investigate ontology types that can be found during ontological investigation and the methods used in the investigation process. The secondary objective of this paper is to study different design and engineering approaches of ontology as well as development environments that are used to create and edit ontologies.

This paper presents work in progress to study information sharing among road safety organizations. The focus is to study accident data acquisition system. In 2002, Swedish Road Transport authority (SRT) has accepted STRADA as accident reporting system to be used by the police all over Sweden. Such system is vital for coordinating, maintaining and auditing road safety in the country. Normally road accidents are reported by the police or by Emergency unit at the hospital. However more than 50% of the hospitals in Sweden didn’t use the system which decrease the utilization of the system and reduce the quality of the information that demanded. By using system thinking approach in this study we try to see why such situation is occurred and how changes can be introduced and handle to overcome such problem. Interviews conducted with focus group and different users of the system. To investigate the issues related to the acceptance of the system we use Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). We recommend getting the user involved in the life cycle of the STRADA and also the developers could use enabling system to overcome problems in related to system usability and complexity. Also we suggest the use of iterative development to govern the life cycle.

This paper describes and discusses analysis of an emergency management exercise. In the exercise scenario, different emergency management organizations jointly try to cope with a forest fire and related incidents. The Extended Control Model is utilized for examination of the establishment of en emergent emergency response organization. Ambiguity in how functions are to be handled in a large event, indicating vulnerabilities in face of larger crises; functions moving across roles during the evolving event; and recognizable phases of a response are uncovered. This is assessed by utilizing episodic analysis of the communication between different functions and roles in the participating emergency management organizations. The results indicate requirements for future information and communication technologies, and occurrences that can be explored in future studies.

A problem in modern command and control situations is that much data is available from different sensors. Several sensor data sources also require that the user has knowledge about the specific sensor types to be able to interpret the data.

To alleviate the working situation for a commander, we have designed and constructed a system that will take input from several different sensors and subsequently present the relevant combined information to the user. The users specify what kind of information is of interest at the moment by means of a query language. The main issues when designing this query language have been that (a) the users should not have to have any knowledge about sensors or sensor data analysis, and (b) that the query language should be powerful and flexible, yet easy to use. The solution has been to (a) use sensor data independence and (b) have a visual query language.

A visual query language was developed with a two-step interface. First, the users pose a “rough”, simple query that is evaluated by the underlying knowledge system. The system returns the relevant information that can be found in the sensor data. Then, the users have the possibility to refine the result by setting conditions for this. These conditions are formulated by specifying attributes of objects or relations between objects.

The problem of uncertainty in spatial data; (i.e. location, area) has been considered. The question of how to represent potential uncertainties is dealt with. An investigation has been carried out to find which relations are practically useful when dealing with uncertain spatial data.

The query language has been evaluated by means of a scenario. The scenario was inspired by real events and was developed in cooperation with a military officer to assure that it was fairly realistic. The scenario was simulated using several tools where the query language was one of the more central ones. It proved that the query language can be of use in realistic situations.

Query languages for multi-sensor data sources are generally dealing with spatial–temporal data that in many applications are of geographical type. Such applications are quite often concerned with dynamic activities where the collected sensor data are streaming in from multiple sensors. Data uncertainty is one of the most important issues, which the query language must deal with. Other aspects of concern are sensor data fusion but also association of multiple object observations. Demonstration of the dynamic aspects are generally difficult as scenarios in real-time cannot easily be set up, tested and run realistically. To overcome this problem the query language sigma query language (ΣQL) has been attached to a simulation framework. Together with this framework scenarios can be set up to form the basis for test and dynamic illustration of the query language. Eventually the query language can be used to support decision making as well. Within the simulation framework input data are coming from sensor models that eventually can be replaced by data from real sensors. Services can be integrated with the information system, used for various purposes and supported by the various capabilities of the query language. A consequence of this approach is that the information delivered by the services, including the query language, can be used as input to an operational picture that eventually can be used to demonstrate on-going dynamic processes. In this work, an extension to ΣQL, called VisualΣQL, will be discussed together with some other relevant services useful in dynamic situations as complements to the query language. Furthermore, the use of the system will be illustrated and discussed by means of a scenario that has been run in the simulation environment.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and one of the most densely populated in south-eastern Africa. Its major power source is hydro-electricity. During the past few years, the power generation capacity has been reduced, which has impacted negatively on the socio-economic development of the country. The country holds an enormous potential to generate geothermal energy due to the countrys position within the Great African Rift valley. This could contribute to economic growth, poverty reduction and technological development in Malawi. The paper presents findings of research on comparisons between silica (quartz and chalcedony) and cation geothermometers (Na-K, Na-K-Ca and K-Mg) of hot springs in the Malawi Rift, in order to deduce the temperature at depth of selected hot springs. The saturation indices of most springs have a bearing on the geology of the areas where these hot springs are found. The Na-K geothermometers are, in general, higher than the Na-K-Ca geothermometer and the K-Mg geothermometer shows temperatures that are too low to be considered. The difference in the results between the different geothermometers may indicate shallow conditions of mixing with ground-water. Results also indicate that some hot springs have sufficient heat-generating capabilities and warrant further exploration work to assess their suitability for energy generation.

Since the first car appeared, the pollution on the roads became an issue, which is still mainly unsolved. Too many people complain about traffic noise. Various methods have been developed that aimed at minimizing the noise pollution and improving the environment.

This thesis presents the problems posed by noise pollution, covers the background of noise pollution and its effects on human health. Another important part of the thesis covers the method of noise calculation which applies in specific Nordic countries.

The main goal of the thesis is to present maps of noise levels on roads for region Skåne in Sweden. Because the regulation and the limits for noise levels are different for different countries, I could find various calculators for traffic noise. Australia, England, USA have the noise level calculators open for public. Another professional calculator, SoundPlan, is a program that can perform a very accurate calculation for traffic noise but only for small areas. Because of this disadvantage, the request for my thesis was to provide a program which can calculate traffic noise level for wide areas. As a master student specialist in GIS (Geographic Information System) it was natural to develop the traffic noise calculator with available GIS tools.

The software system to calculate the traffic noise maps was implemented in ArcMap 9.1, a GIS program which allows creation of tools, according to a mathematical description of noise calculator. The mathematical description is based on the Nordic Prediction method, a document which set up requirements for prediction of road traffic noise. ArcMap 9.1 allows the development of extensions in different programming languages. The tools implemented in this thesis are written in Visual Basic. The thesis work implements several tools for calculating noise levels, starting from the basic traffic noise level and introducing additional noise corrections to perform more accurate noise calculation. The additional corrections could be added because I had access to additional data regarding buildings and population location. The available population data from Lund gave me the opportunity to create a tool which performs population exposure to noise in this region.

This paper tests the claimed benefits of using geographical information systems (GIS) in emergency response operations. An experimental study comparing command teams using GIS and paper-based maps is presented. The study utilized a combined approach using microworld simulations together with physical artefacts. Participants in the experiment took the role of command teams, facing the task of extinguishing a simulated forest fire. A total of 132 persons, forming 22 teams, participated in the study. In eleven of the teams, the participants were given access to GIS with positioning of fire-brigades as well as sensor data about the fire outbreak. In the other eleven teams, the participants were using paper-based maps. The result shows that teams using GIS performed significantly better than teams with paper-based maps in terms of saved area. Communication volume was considerably reduced in the case of GIS teams. Implications of these results on GIS are discussed as well as methodological considerations for future research.

Digital terrain data models in high resolution are required in applications for visualization but also, e.g. for identification of various types of terrain features. These two aspects are in a way contradictory since the former application require a large number of data points to represent the high resolution, while the latter cannot deal with such a large number of data points without high demands for heavy computational powers. A solution to this problem is a structure that includes quantitative characteristics for visualization and a qualitative representation for feature analysis. A digital terrain data model characterized with these dual aspects has been designed and is presented in this work.

This paper examines usability issues in Mixed Reality (MR) systems from a Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) (Hollnagel & Woods 1983; 2005) perspective with the purpose of finding an alternative approach to usability in MR-systems. A qualitative user study has been performed at a Swedish hospital where professionals have tested an MR prototype providing instruction of the use of advanced medical equipment. The results indicate that the participants in this study do not consider the MR system as a traditional computer based manual, but rather as an interactive personal instructor. The fact that users work through the MR system rather than with the MR system raises some fundamental design issues regarding usability and the perspective on usability. This suggests that there may be a need to utilize a different approach for usability concerning MR systems, instead of transferring traditional human-computer usability guidelines to the MR domain.

In this paper the present role of geographic information (GI) and geographic information systems (GIS) in flood emergency management (EM) is investigated. A case study method is used to study pre- and post-flooding phases of EM in two Swedish municipalities. The results indicate apparent ontological and semantic differences between the involved decision-makers on what constitutes important problems and on what type of information is relevant. Furthermore, knowledge of GI and GIS was also found differing between the decision-makers. Organizational, conceptual, ontological, and semantic problems were identified as essential for GI and GIS utilization. Concerning the increasing role of GI and GIS in EM, further research on the studied problems is necessary as their elimination or at least minimization is a prerequisite for introducing a mature GIS in flood EM.

The three-dimensional geo database is used as a temporal and dynamic decision support on the bridge. The intention being to collect all crucial navigational information into one display directly in front of the Officer of the Watch (OOW). With the camera positioned by GPS-data in the 3D-model the display provides a direct comparison with the out-of-window-view. Thus serving as a dynamic perspective view of the same type as the static views supplied of important entrances in pilot books. Navigational information such as names of islands, borders of the navigational channels, speed limits, lighthouse characters etc. can be displayed on the screen. In this way making it unnecessary to paint the names of islands directly on the rock, as the Russian navy did in the 1800-hundreds in frustration over the difficulty of navigating in the complicated Finnish archipelago. (Collinder, 1943) But also the changing view of coast and archipelago due to the rise and fall of the tide can be displayed. Thus making it possible to conduct daylight navigation at night or in restricted visibility.

This paper presents a research project suggesting the use of real-time 3D techniques normally used in simulation environments as a navigation aid onboard ships. Based on a three-dimensional geographical database the surrounding world is presented in a -bridge-eye perspective- with navigational information such as own track, other ships in the vicinity and their tracks, water depth and radar echoes integrated in a single display. The integrated display suggested, acts as a complement to traditional electronic charts. The main objective is to lessen the cognitive load of the bridge personal and particularly the helms man in hand steering situations in high-speeds.

The cost of Bangladesh is extremely exposed to tropical cyclones because of its long costal line containing shallow deltas and densely populated offshore islands. This entails that tropical cyclones will have a particularly severe impact causing high fatality mostly among the poor people on the costal region. In spite of regular attack of devastating cyclones in Bangladesh coast, it-s impact on human lives as well as infrastructure and natural resources have been reduced considerably. The damage reduction reached at a level which is now difficult to down further because of two reasons. First is the insufficient information for early preparedness and second is the ineffective after-cyclone damage restoration system. It is therefore especially important in this part of the world that cyclones can be predicted well in advance before landfall. Normally, cyclone tracking and forecasting is based on satellite images supplemented with data collected using floating buoys, naval ships, dropsondes, airplanes carrying a wide range of active and passive sensors. In Bangladesh however, there is a lack of supplementary data. Meteorologists in Bangladesh are therefore forced to rely on satellite images only (NOAA-AVHRR). The aim of this project is to assess the informational contents of satellite images and identify their limitations in forecasting tropical cyclones. A first step in the project is to assess to what extent current models used for forecasting around the world are dependent on supplementary data, and on the other hand to what extent they could be used to predict tropical cyclones using satellite images only.

This study describes approaches to create surface maps of radon in groundwater based on measurements of radon (222Rn) in drilled bedrock wells at unevenly distributed sites and uranium bedrock maps from the South East of Sweden, the Östergotland county (N 58°14’ – N 58°56’and E 14°53’ – E 16°06’), see figure 1. Geostatistical techniques of inverse distance weighted(IDW), kriging and cokriging were compared in terms of their interpolation power and correlation between the produced radon in the water layer and the bedrock uranium layer. The goal of these analyses and calculations is to improve our understanding concerning the factors influencing the transport of radon. Therefore, these interpolation techniques were investigated by optimizing parameters that are used in the specific interpolation. Using the IDW interpolator method at fixed radius enabled us to determine the linkage or search distances for auto correlation, and linkage between radon in water and bedrock. This method showed good agreement with the cokriging method when using uranium concentration as a secondary variable. Good interpolation layers (with least root mean square errors RMSE=232) were obtained by kriging. However, the kriged radon surface showed poor correlation with bedrock uranium layers. The best radon in waterlayer that match with uranium in bedrock layer was produced using IDW interpolator (RMSE=377, using all points). The correlation coefficient (R2) is 0.5 while for the kriging method the best correlation is R2 = 0.1. A compromise between the two approaches is demonstrated.

Query languages for sensor data will have similarities with traditional query languages but will also have diverging properties that cause a higher complexity than the traditional ones. Both types require data independence. However, as different sensors create data of heterogeneous type the commonly used methods for data selection cannot be used. Furthermore, sensor data will always be associated with uncertainties and since also sensor data fusion must be possible to carry out this cause further problem in development of the query languages. Here a visual query language for sensor data input is discussed from these perspectives to allow a complete set of spatial temporal queries by means of its visual user interface.

In the southeast in Norrk÷ping, Sweden, is a small fjord-like bay called SlΣtbaken. The water quality in SlΣtbaken - with its narrow outlet to the Baltic Sea - depends highly on the water quality of the streams that flow in it. While point pollution sources can be identified easily in general, the non-point sources are harder to find. The most important sources for non-point pollution are agricultural areas, and the pollutants are mostly nutrients like phosphorus, which come from the fertilisation of the fields. One important catchment area for SlΣtbaken is the 57.7 km2 Gissel÷ river basin (part of the topographic map 8GNO), which contains large agricultural areas. The transport of water pollutants is based on the same hydrological processes as erosion and sediment transport. The implementation of such a model in a GIS allows the analysis of a large area with a high resolution. When choosing the model, special attention was paid to the possibility of using a verified model that is easy to implement in a commercial GIS without the need of too much expert knowledge. This may allow its widespread use in many administrative applications that need non-point source information. A feasibility test for an enhanced GIS USLE model was done in the Gissel÷ drainage basin before it was implemented for all river basins in the whole administrative area of Norrk÷pings kommun. It is possible to use the suggested simplified USLE model to estimate the load of both pollutants and sediments, and it is able to show the areas that are critical for the water quality at the outlet of the water basin. The model has been evaluated in three studies [Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Syst. 2 (4) (1988) 365, A GIS to target critical areas for non point source management, in: Proceedings of the International Non Point Source Management Symposium, Austin, TX, November 7, 1989, Vatten 48 (1992) 117]. Then, implemented in a very simple GIS that allowed only rough estimates of terrain models and distances, the model was able to estimate the total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) loads in the Svartσ river basin of 1539 km2 in the same region as Gissel÷ and the Bornsj÷ river basin outside Stockholm. Besides an estimated R2 of 0.91-0.98 (verified by a more than one year measurement from manual and automated sampling stations in the whole river basin), the benefit with the GIS implemented USLE was the possibility to identify the risk areas with high spatial accuracy. During the last decade, both available databases and software have changed the possibilities to identify areas at risk of nutrient leakage. Schein [GIS Methods for Monitoring Sustainable Development by Analysis of Land-use and Land Cover Changes in the Surroundings of Link÷ping (Sweden), Institut fⁿr Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung, Technische UniversitΣt Dresden, Germany] and Schein and Sivertun [Method and models for sustainable development monitoring and analyses in GIS, in: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Geo-Spatial Knowledge Processing for Natural Resource Management, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy, June 28-29, 2001] show that the enhanced land use data available through the European Union agricultural support program can be used together with remote sensing data to fine tune the modified GIS USLE model. The problems with the new 50 x 50 m digital elevation data now available are also pointed out here. Obvious errors in the data and possibilities to enhance the model by introducing a better terrain model were two important suggestions in these works. In this article, two modifications to the original model are suggested. One is enhancement of the digital terrain model by using height curves from the digital 1:50 000 scale topographic map, and the other is a smooth distance function that better reflects the impact of nutrients on water bodies. Because of its easy implementation on standard low cost systems, the GIS USLE model is suitable for analysing huge areas for critical places. The results can lead to more detailed studies in the risk areas thus identified or to investigations on the effect of land use changes, or can be used simply for taking care in the use of fertilisers and other chemicals in the critical agricultural areas.

Sweden has an enormous treasure in its vast number of large-scale historical maps from a period of nearly 400 years. These are frequently used in temporal studies and different kinds of historical and archaeological research problems. A full and systematic analyse of this material from a data modelling perspective has not been conducted. In a prior article, a conccpnml analysis resulting in an ontolney for the Gotlandic maps of 1693-1705 (GM1700) was presented. In this paper it is demonstrated how this ontology can be used as a conceptual schema for a logical E/R database schema. The Ontology is described in the terms of the Protege mcta-model and the E/R schema in UML. The mapping between the two is a set of elementary guidance rules, which is easy for a human to comprehend, but hard to automate. The E/R schema is implemented in a DBMS- and a GIS system.

Historical maps are a vital and often used source in a variety of disciplines and applications. Since a decade or two, they have moved into the GIS-community. A large scanning project by Lantmäteriverket will make most of the maps in Sweden available as raster images. Two major projects have modelled the maps for storage in databases, but they have several drawbacks. In our project we model the maps as close to the original structure as possible with a very data oriented view. In this article some different applications are presented, which goes beyond the traditional use of historical maps in GIS. These brief examples involve data mining, statistics, retrogressive analysis and hypothesis testing.

In many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, like histo-ry, human geography and archeology, historical maps are of great importance as a source of information. They are used frequently in different studies for a vari-ety of problems. Since the last decade or two, it has been more and more com-mon to use data from historical maps in GIS-analysis. On Gotland, the large-scale map production has a more then 300-year history. There are several differ-ent map generations that are produced for different purposes. The scope of this work is a map series produced over the province of Gotland in 1693-1705. These maps have extensive text descriptions of different aspects of the mapped features. Via a code marking system they are attached to the maps. In this work a semantic analysis and an ontology over all the concepts found in the maps and text descriptions will be presented.

Sweden has an enormous treasure in its vast number of large-scale historical maps from a period of 400 years made for different purposes, that we call map series. The maps are also very time and regional dependent with respect to their concepts. A large scanning project by Lantmäteriverket will make most of these maps available as raster images. In many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, like history, human geography and archaeology, historical maps are of great importance as a source of information. They are used frequently in different studies for a variety of problems. A full and systematic analyse of this material from a database perspective has so far not been conducted. During the last decade or two, it has been more and more common to use data from historical maps in GIS-analysis. In this thesis a novel approach to model these maps is tested. The method is based on the modelling of each map series as its own ontology, thus focusing on the unique concepts of each map series. The scope of this work is a map series covering the province of Gotland produced during the period 1693-1705. These maps have extensive text descriptions concerned with different aspects of the mapped features. Via a code marking system they are attached to the maps. In this thesis a semantic analysis and an ontology over all the concepts found in the maps and text descriptions are presented. In our project we model the maps as close to the original structure as possible with a very data oriented view. Furthermore; we demonstrate how this ontology can be used as a conceptual schema for a logical E/R database schema. The Ontology is described in terms of the Protégé meta-model and the E/R schema in UML. The mapping between the two is a set of elementary rules, which are easy for a human to comprehend, but hard to automate. The E/R schema is implemented in a demonstration system. Examples of some different applications which are feasibly to perform by the system are presented. These examples go beyond the traditional use of historical maps in GIS today. 

This thesis concerns command and control (C2) work at the tactical level in emergency and crisis response operations. The presented research addresses two main research questions. The first question is whether it is feasible to simulate and study C2 work in the initial stages of response operations by means of role-playing simulations. If so, the second question is how to develop and execute role-playing simulations in order to explore this type of C2 work in a methodologically sound way. The presented research is based on simulations as methodological means for qualitative research. The utilized simulation approach is scenario-based real-time role-playing simulations grounded in models of C2 work and response operations. Three simulations have been conducted based on this methodology and are reported in this thesis. Simulation I focused on the work practice of cooperating commanders whose activities may be enhanced by the use of artifacts. Simulation II concerned the issues of operationalizing advanced technological artifacts in rapid response expert teams. Simulation III gave attention to the role improvisation in C2 teams designated for international operations. The results from the simulations and from the work conducted and presented in this thesis contribute with knowledge and experience from using role-playing simulations to study C2 work. This includes the methodological aspects of designing and conducting role-playing simulations such as scenarios, realism, evaluation and simulation format and control. It also includes the identification of the main application and problem areas for which the methodology is suitable, that is explorative qualitative inquiries and evaluation studies. The thesis provides new insights in C2 work with respect to adaptive behavior and improvisation. The thesis also identifies areas that need to be considered in order to further develop the role-playing simulation approach and its applicability.

This thesis explains how semi-coordinated or separated utilization of information and communication technologies may affect collaborative work between different emergency management organizations, and their capabilities to perform joint tasks during emergency responses. Another aim is to explore the modeling of emergency management and data collection methods with respect to utilization of these technologies.

The theoretical basis for the thesis consists of system science, cognitive system engineering, communication, informatics, simulation, emergency management, and command and control. Important notions are the joint cognitive systems concept and the communication infrastructure concept. The case study method and the real-time role-playing exercise approach are the main methodological approaches.

On the basis of two main studies, geospatial data and related systems are studied as an example. Study I focuses on emergency management organizations' abilities to collaborate effectively by assessing their communication infrastructure. Study II, on the other hand, highlights the emerging effects in use of data in collaborative work when responding to a forest fire scenario.

The results from the studies, and from the general work conducted and presented here, show that the semi-coordinated or separated utilization of the technologies affects (a) how well the organizations can collaborate, (b) the capabilities to carry out collaborative tasks during crises and disasters, and (c) to what extent the technology can be used in real-life situations. The results also show that the joint cognitive system notion and the real-time role-playing exercise approach provided new ways to conceptualize and study the emergency management and the command and control system.

In this paper, methodological issues in research and training of complex command and control structures in emergency management are addressed. In particular, a methodological approach combining real-time role-playing exercise, after action review and observations is presented. An explorative study - ALFA-05 - utilizing this approach is described. A brief overview of methodological aspects of preparation and execution is given. Further, experience gained and methodological lessons learned are also discussed. Finally, real-time role-playing exercise in combination with other methods is suggested as a feasible method for researchers and exercise managers to tackle present and future command and control in complex settings, where interaction and communication are in focus. In addition, areas for further development of the real-time role-playing exercises as a research method are suggested.

During emergency response, emergency management and its command andcontrol system are particularly challenged as the responding taskforce putscountermeasures in place intensively and dynamically. To respondeffectively these countermeasures are typically coordinated throughcollaborative work of commanding staff. Information seeking,communication, and data sharing are essential elements of this collaborativecommand and control work. The traditional research methods used incommand and control research do not always allow researchers to fullyinvestigate these elements of collaborative work. In this paper, we describethe role-playing exercise, a real-time approach combining role-playing gamesand emergency management exercises, for studying collaborative command and control, particularly during improvisation and adaptation work. We alsodescribe the practical application of the role-playing exercise approach in theALFA-05 research study. This is followed by a discussion on methodologicallessons learned from this study. This includes simulation realism and control,ecological and communication settings, and data collection. Our experiencesuggests that the role-playing exercise approach can be considered as afeasible method for research studies, where interaction and communicationof commanding staff are in focus.

This paper describes a study, which aimed to document the work practice ofa team of commanders responding to an emergency, and to identify areasand activities, that may be enhanced by the use of command and controltools. The study was based on a “human-in-the-loop” simulation withemergency management commanders as participants. Communicationanalyses – episodic analysis, socio-metric status and communication roles –were used to assess coordination among the commanders. The resultsindicate that the commanders used informal arrangements within theestablished command and control structures to perform various informalfunctions and take on diverse communication roles across organizational anddomain boundaries. Cross-domain and cross-organizational knowledge wasthe most important enabler of this type of coordination. General toolsproviding methods and aids to indicate and support informal functions andcommunication roles were identified as absent.

The focus of this chapter is the design and development of Information and Communication Technologies that support collaborative work and processes in command and control teams, more specifically, in joint emergency response operations. The unique contexts and varying circumstances of response operations have an impact on how collaborative work and interactions among commanders emerge, as well as on the extent to which Information and Communication Technologies are used. 

This research aims at improving knowledge on design of computer-supported command and control systems. In particular, aspects of communication and information seeking are investigated. The method of role-playing exercises is presented and some empirical data from a study using that method is presented. A role-playing exercise is a real-time approach where participants act in their professional roles to manage various situations in a collaborative matter. In this case, a forest-fire together with additional incidents was used in order to study collaborative command and control work between commanding officers from different organizations, such as police, fire & rescue and emergency call-centers. Commanders- local knowledge and experience from similar events are factors influencing information seeking. Other types of information are seen as additional, and further information seeking depends on the dynamics of the events and the workload. The essential contribution of the role-playing exercise approach lays in its possibilities to document and identify differences between planned and intended command and control processes and real command and control work.

This research aims at increasing understanding about the mechanisms behind learning and the usage of Spatial Decision Support Systems in emergency management. An experimental study using the C3Fire microworld simulation as a platform for data collection is suggested and four main hypothesises are put forward.

Inter-organizational issues are very challenging in emergency management (EM). In this paper, aspects of information and communication technologies (ICT), geographical information systems (GIS) and geospatial data (GSD) in the Swedish EM system, an EM system involving a large number of EM organizations, are reported based on a case study. The issues concerned include separated ICT & GIS development between organizations and formation of technological coalitions, problems of identification and access of GSD, located through the large number organizations, as well as uncoordinated launching of web-based GIS service. Possible implications of this situation for command and control are discussed. Additionally, areas for further research are suggested.

In this paper, research investigating the current situation with respect to geospatial data (GSD) access and integration at the interorganizational level in Swedish local and regional emergency management (EM) is presented. The performed analysis resulted in a range of conceptual, organizational, administrative and ontological problems, recognized by the international research community and also identified among the studied Swedish EM organizations. Additionally, close interconnection between particular problems or groups of problems was observed in several cases. The documented findings can be seen as hindering the sharing of GSD. Moreover, development of useful GIS-based analytical and decision-support applications for day-to-day use in EM is becoming difficult without effectively sharing GSD. It is suggested to promote further research in an integrated way to understand the full complexity of the problems. Moreover, involving both the research and EM communities is seen as essential.

This research gives attention to role improvisation in command and controlteams designated for crisis and disaster response operations in aninternational context. The paper reports a study, which had the goal todevelop, on the bases of real response operations, a role-playing simulationto explore and study role improvisation in highly realistic situations. Thestudy was based on a single-case, the command staff of the SwedishResponse Team. The objective of the study was achieved by (a) identifyingcritical areas concerning role improvisation of the command staff, (b)proposing a model-based simulation design that incorporates these areas,and (c) preparing and executing a role-playing simulation based on thisdesign. The critical areas were identified from two previous responseoperations. The analysis utilized a phenomenological approach, and wasbased on twenty-two interviews and three workshops. The identified critical areas were integrated in the simulation design by means of the initial set-up,scenario stimuli, and interactions with the simulation staff. This was basedon a synthesis of the models of command and control and responseoperations, scenario and tasks, simulation approach and manipulation of theimprovisation variables. The developed simulation was a scenario-basedreal-time role-playing simulation with a progressively unfolding scenario.The scenario was based on events taking place during the 2007 Californiawildfires. The simulation was evaluated by assessing the subjective realism.The paper reports experience from designing and conducting the roleplayingsimulation. It identifies demands and requirements, which have tobe met in order to simulate highly realistic situations. It also demonstrateshow, on the bases of real response operations, such simulations can bedesigned. Lastly, it also identifies areas that require attention in order o usethe role-playing simulations to explore and study role improvisation.