Information visualization for emergency management: A systematic mapping study

• We report a mapping study to analyze visualization tools in emergency management.
• Map the area (scientific community and the contributions published in the literature).
• We point common visualization techniques, environments and phases.
• Existent literature provides only partial solutions.
• Findings can support on proposing new approaches to solve open problems in the area.

Background: Emergency management (EM) refers to the ability to deal with emergency tasks in different phases and iterations. To do this, each task requires many and different types of information coming from several sources related to the incident. As people working in an emergency situation are generally under stress and have to make quick and effective decisions, they need to assimilate the received information in an easy and intuitive way. Information visualization (InfoVis) is the study of visual representations of abstract data to reinforce human cognition to understand these data through 2D computer screens. It is frequently used to analyze and understand the huge amount of multidimensional data produced in an emergency.Objective: This study analyzes how researchers use information visualization tools to improve emergency management. Our general objective is to map the area examining both the scientific community and the contributions that have been published in the literature, aiming to provide information, such as: understanding how the area is structured, common practices in existing works, and research gaps.Methods: A systematic mapping study was conducted to analyze the available information visualization tools and their applications in EM activities. A thorough search was carried out and a formal selection process was applied to gather all relevant articles on the subject. Selected primary studies were classified and analyzed with respect to their metadata and to answer eight research questions related to our mapping goal. In total, 196 studies were analyzed in depth.Results: The mapping study identified the most common visualization techniques applied in emergency management, the common environments and phases where they are applied, identifying gaps and also possible trends in the subject. We found out that particular issues concerning emergency management are not fully covered by existing visualization approaches, and when covered, existing literature provides only partial solutions.Conclusion: Our results provide a deep analysis on the application of InfoVis in the EM area, supporting researchers and developers in EM systems with insightful information on trending techniques in use, command practices and existing research gaps. We expect that these findings can support them on proposing new approaches to solve open problems in the area.