Communicating With Points, Lines, and Areas.

Abstract: Disaster response requires great amount of communication when it comes to coordination and cooperation, yet communication is not smooth and encounters some problems, one of which is lack of situation awareness. One of the most required information during disaster response which helps to solve the situation awareness problem is geospatial data. This research analyses the media capabilities of OSM Tasking Manager when communicating Volunteered Geographic Information by applying case of Nepal Earthquake in 2015 April as the most recent natural disaster for the analysis. It was first attempted to define the crisis communication and its variables to clarify the scope of analysis. Second it was attempted to evaluate media capabilities in theory by considering the context in which the media is used and communication is taking place as Media Synchronicity Theory suggests. After conducting usability inspection and document analysis actual OSM Tasking Manager capabilities were evaluated regarding conveyance and convergence processes in production function. Results showed that OSM Tasking Manager is a very task oriented communication media that fulfils theoretically required media capabilities. Research also showed that Map Communication Model provided by Hoffman is highly applicable when analysing communication via interactive web mapping platforms.