The Importance of Big Data Metadata in Crisis Management

Abstract

Big data have the potential to change the way responders make sense of crisis situations, respond, and make decisions concerning the crises. At the same time, however, the explosion to the amount of crisis-related data can create an information overload to the crisis responders, and a challenge for their efficient management and utilisation. Crisis big data streams for epidemics may lack, for instance, key demographic identifiers such as age and sex, or may underrepresent certain age groups as well as residents of developing countries. Relevant metadata information needs therefore to be obtained and validated in order to trust make predictions and decisions based on the big data set. Crisis-related big data must be meaningful to the responders in order to form the basis of sound decisions. The aim of the chapter is to review all issues pertaining to the use of metadata for big data in emergency/crisis management situations.