This book is the second in a series that examines how geographic
information te- nologies (GIT) are being implemented to improve our
understanding of a variety of hazard and disaster situations. The main
types of technologies covered under the umbrella of GIT, as used in this
volume, are geographic information systems, remote sensing (not
including ground-penetrating or underwater systems), and global po-
tioning systems. Our focus is on urban areas, broadly de ned in order to
encompass rapidly growing and densely populated areas that may not be
considered "urban" in the conventional sense. The material presented
here is also unabashedly applied - our goal is to provide GIT tools to
those seeking more ef cient ways to respond to, recover from, mitigate,
prevent, and/or model hazard and disaster events in urban settings.
Therefore, this book was created not only with our colleagues in the
academic world in mind, but also for hazards professionals and
practitioners. We also believe graduate students will nd the material
presented here of interest, as may upper division undergraduate
students.