Hierarchical disaster image classification for situation report enhancement

In this paper, a hierarchical disaster image classification (HDIC) framework based on multi-source data fusion (MSDF) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) is proposed to aid emergency managers in disaster response situations. The HDIC framework classifies images into different disaster categories and sub-categories using a pre-defined semantic hierarchy. In order to effectively fuse different sources (visual and text) of information, a weighting scheme is presented to assign different weights to each data resource depending on the hierarchical structure. The experimental analysis demonstrates that the proposed approach can effectively classify disaster images at each logical layer. In addition, the paper also presents an iPad application developed for situation report management using the proposed HDIC framework.