PDC Twitter Posts Now Provide a Location Map

When users click on the word “here” or the place name in a PDC tweet, a Google map pops up to show where the hazard is in the world. It is often necessary to zoom out a few steps to see enough of the map to recognize the location.

Pacific Disaster Center began providing a continuous flow of automated hazard-warnings and disaster-event notifications to the public using Twitter on March 1, 2010.

Now, the location reference—the name of the place where the hazard or disaster is found—in each tweet is clickable. When a user clicks the place name, Twitter displays a small Google Maps insert of the location. Generally, a few clicks of the zoom out button (the – ) will be needed to show enough geography of the location to make it recognizable. A small Pacific island, for example, will initially appear as a box of ocean blue and the place-indicator. That is not helpful. Zooming out allows the user to see the island in relation to other islands and continents. PDC cannot customize Twitter’s Google Maps implementation, but (with those few zoom-outs) the new feature offers a quick glance at the location of a hazard.

“Here at PDC, we are constantly trying to improve the ways hazard information is communicated to the public” say PDC Software Development Lead Steve Kunitzer, who helped implement the new feature. “This new feature allows our Twitter followers and other users to quickly get a sense for the location of active hazards.”

The reference location may sometimes be an entire region such as the following example from Tropical Storm Hermine advisory #7:

The word “here” is Twitter’s way to provide a reference location for a hazard point that does not automatically include a place name. That is, when a reference location is not found, they use the word “here.” PDC does not have any control over the reference locations displayed on the Twitter site, but the Center greatly appreciates Twitter’s effort and the presentation of the “geolocating” maps.

Here is an example of a more specific reference location based on a manual Twitter post.

Related information:

• Read the original announcement of PDC’s arrival on Twitter and Facebook.
• For more information on active hazards, use PDC’s Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas.
• PDC’s mobile device app, Disaster Alert for iPhone and iPad, can be downloaded from iTunes or AppShopper.

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Pacific Disaster Center - 1305 North Holopono Street, Suite 2, Kihei, HI 96753 | Phone:1.808.891.0525 | E-mail: info@pdc.org