The contribution of maps to the challenges of risk communication to the public

Risk communication is a significant challenge in risk management. It serves different purposes; an important one is to improve the public risk awareness and mitigation. Because of the strong spatio-temporal component of natural hazards, maps can play a decisive role in communicating risk information. The application and design of maps for risk communication especially to the public has not been investigated comprehensively. Specific constraints and challenges of risk communication have not been considered systematically in the map design process so far. This study aims at developing a frame for the application and design of interactive risk and hazard maps for the public which is based on the specific constraints and challenges of risk communication. In a literature review it introduces concepts and methods from social sciences and psychology, which have been assessed as important for communicating risk information. The concepts and methods are adapted to map-mediated risk communication according to the approaches of Activity Theory. Communication objectives and tasks which are essential to improve risk mitigation are identified and geovisualization methods for information presentation are related according to the degree which they are able to serve them. Based on this, some principles for map-based risk communication are established.