Deploying collaborative Geographic Information System (GIS) environments that are hosted in the cloud and facilitate crowdsourcing is one strategy for communities to adopt in the aftermath of disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes. The use of GIS in disaster management is critical to attain comprehensive situational awareness. The ability to fully understand the consequences of disasters enables responders to more efficiently distribute limited available resources. This paper analyzes popular tools, ranging from web services to mobile applications, that are currently employed for accomplishing the task of information collection and visualization. It then consolidates their various strengths and develops a single functional prototype application that offers a model for virtual incident command systems.
