Brian Tomaszewski is an associate professor and director of the Center for Geographic Information Science and Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, USA, and an adjunct professor with the Centre for Disaster Management and Mitigation at the Vellore Institute of Technology, India. His research interests are in the domains of geographic information science and technology, geographic visualization, spatial thinking, disaster management, and forced displacement. His published research has appeared in top scientific journals such as Information Visualization, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Computers and Geosciences, and The Cartographic Journal. He is the co-creator of the Refugee GIS (RefuGIS) project that is the world’s first innovation project to empower refugees themselves to use GIS. Tomaszewski is actively involved in international disaster management and refugee affairs research with research projects funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in Rwanda, Germany, and Jordan as well as collaborations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rwanda and Jordan.
I enjoyed the book immensely. The book provides a comprehensive discussion of using geospatial data sets, tools and techniques to address different phases of emergency management along with examples and implementation steps. The book can easily be used in the classroom or as a reference book by both novice professionals and experts. Bandana Kar, R & D Staff in the National Security Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory We need spatial information more than ever to help plan for, respond to, and recover from disasters. This book does an outstanding job of laying the foundations and providing the contextual knowledge needed to leverage geospatial data and make maps that matter in crisis situations. Anthony C. Robinson, Department of Geography, Penn State University Disasters--human and natural--make it painfully clear how relevant the geographic perspective is to our modern world. Dr Tomaszewski's book not only will equip its readers with theoretical foundations and practical skills to apply GIS workflows and tools to such diverse situations as wildfires, floods, and chemical spills, but will make strides in building a workforce that puts spatial first in its decision-making. Joseph Kerski, GISP, Esri and University of Denver