Leveraging Crowdsourcing and Crowdsensing Data for HADR Operations in a Smart City Environment

The future of the world's population concentration lies within the bounds of urban cities. Citizens, or humans, are the most important tangible resources in a smart city environment, and they need to be served as well as protected. The concept of smart cities is trying to accomplish the idea of serving the citizens by leveraging the potential of information and communications technology assets. Citizens have access to smart technologies and applications, and thus they form an indispensable component to complement and supplement a smart city's operation. Especially in humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery (HADR) operations, where a smart city's core infrastructure might be compromised, the assets of citizens can be put to use. This article aims to describe the current state of affairs for safety in cities and humanitarian assistance in emergency situations, which require leveraging situational awareness data. We discuss and propose mechanisms for connecting to and utilizing crowdsourcing and crowdsensing data in a smart city environment, which can assist in efficient HADR operations.