Screencast of recent talk by Linlin Ge to the 2008 CRCSI Conference
Judges comments on the Sichuan project
Web page for the Linlin Ge project
Info on IndjiWatch
Synopsis of the award winning project outcome ... press release
On May 12, 2008 a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Wenchaun region of Sichuan province, China, ultimately claiming over 70,000 lives and displacing millions of people. As news of the disaster spread, the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) team at the University of New South Wales led by Associate Professor Linlin Ge and supported by the Dept of Lands recognised that they were in a unique position to help and immediately went to work. Professor Ge’s team overcame numerous technical and logistical obstacles and drew on numerous resources to provide the Chinese authorities with essential information needed to respond to the disaster.
The information provided was critical in enabling relief and assessment efforts to be directed to the worst-affected regions of this massive quake, covering an estimated quarter of a million square kilometers. In addition, this work allowed predictions of aftershocks to be made, and is a step forward in making earthquake predictions possible in the future.
Among the challenges met were
• managing the time delay between image capture and availability for processing
• reducing the processing time and turnaround
• increasing the software's capability for handling very large file sizes due to the vast extent of the damage
• extending the dynamic range of processing techniques to accommodate the very large ground displacements associated with this particular earthquake
The team met those challenges by working around the clock under the pressure of time and became possibly the first in the world to provide near-real-time disaster relief information of this kind over such a large area. One of the resources drawn upon in responding to this emergency was the CRCSI’s excellent relationship with the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Centre (ERSDAC) in Japan, the operators of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) used to collect topographic data via radar. Assoc Prof Ge’s team was also able to draw on their extensive work with mine subsidence sites in Australia. Most importantly, the commitment and sacrifices of everyone on the team made this accomplishment possible.
For this remarkable accomplishment, Assoc Prof Ge and the CRCSI team at UNSW has been awarded the J K Barrie APSEA award which represents the pinnacle of achievement in the spatial industry and is the highest award the judges can confer. It is bestowed on one project that attains, in the Judges’ opinion, the highest level of excellence or achievement.
Linlin's position is supported by the NSW Dept of Lands, where he is a Visiting Professor, as well as the University of NSW
A/Professor
School of Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
The University of New South Wales
Visiting Professor
New South Wales Department of Lands
Project Leader and Senior Research Fellow
Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information
tel +61-2-9385 4177 mob 0423 287 219
l.ge@unsw.edu.au www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/LinlinGe