A generic triangle-based data structure of the complete set of higher order Voronoi diagrams for emergency management

Abstract

We introduce a generic Delaunay triangle-based data structure for geoinformation processing in disaster and emergency management. The data structure supports the complete set of higher order Voronoi diagrams (order-k) Voronoi diagrams, ordered order-k Voronoi diagrams, and kth nearest Voronoi diagrams for all (k). It provides useful and insightful information for what-if nearest queries, what-if neighboring queries, what-if zoning queries, what-if facility locating queries and what-if routing queries to handle various scenarios in the four stages of emergency management (mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery). We also demonstrate how the complete set of higher order Voronoi diagrams can be used for each phase of emergency management in diverse geoinformatics environments.