Positional Triage: geotagging and geographic information system (GIS)

The combination of GPS services [1] and information technology is increasing with the use of geotagging services [2] now present by default in many devices such as smartphones [3], cell phones and cameras. A phone camera, properly enabled, can take pictures and embed GPS coordinates of position in the metadata [4] of the resulting image file. Have recently also been set up online services such as Foursquare [5], Flickr [6], Twitter [7], directed to or geocaching geotagging [8]. This feature has significant effects on the deep and personal safety and the products and projects that are useful to the community and civil protection. This article offers an analysis of a smartphone software applied to a prehospital triage system used in the field of maxiemergenza, focusing, in particular, the concepts of GIS and geotagging.