A middleware platform for decision support in disaster management

This paper presents a comprehensive engineering approach to provide a dynamic cross-organizational middleware for decision support in the field of disaster management. The proposed methodology is based on three main components: i) integration of data and services from different systems of the relevant stakeholders ii) real-time interactive classical and map-based visualization of the integrated information iii) and provision of decision makers with various data analysis and control operations to optimize the management process. To this end, we first characterize the capabilities that such a middleware should implement. Afterwards, we will discuss the design and architectural aspects of these capabilities. The provided middleware is essentially a multi-tier IT platform that provides a plethora of features such as: data and service integration, geodata visualization and decision support, etc. A special care has been accorded to the performance aspect of the middleware. Finally, we present the results of an implementation of the aforesaid platform architecture to validate the proposed approach.