Development of an iOS, Augmented Reality for disaster management

Abstract: Disaster management is a field, where any kind of information is essential for planning and rescue operations. The availability of real-time data on a portable device, such as a smartphone, can be very useful for emergency workers, during rescue operations and citizens as well. Augmented mobile reality is a system where the users can see overlayed data and visuals in the real environment through their smartphones or tablet screens. In this study, we have developed and tested a mobile application on the iOS platform, with disaster specific software functionalities. The mobile application has been designed to serve disaster management teams during the rescue operations for better coordination and information exchange. The system uses a combination of Geolocation services and Augmented Reality to present in real-world information, such as Points of Interests, citizen’s health status or previous building’s states so that will ease the work of the rescue teams and help citizens find shelter. One of the primary aspects of this study is to find a suitable method to measure the accuracy of the iPhone 8 Plus render augmented information in reality. For that, we conducted 144 tests for different distances and azimuths to verify the accuracy of the augmented information on the real world. The results of this study show that the iPhone 8 Plus can render objects with very high accuracy and can provide accurate information to the user. Finally, the app has been presented for two scenarios, during a disaster response phase, to have an overall picture, whether the application could prove satisfying results or not, and how useful it could be for future use.