What's GLIDE

Accessing disaster information can be time-consuming and laborious. Data ca be scattered and identification of specific disasters can be difficult in countries where numerous disasters occur. In order to address these problems, a global referencing system for disaster events called GLIDE (GLobal unique disaster IDEntifier) was developed by a group of disaster information organizations.

GLIDE is an open standard, accessible at no cost to anyone interested in disaster data. Using GLIDE will promote transparent linking and efficient retrieval of disaster information from multiple sources through the internet for better disaster data management and analysis. The value of GLIDE will increase with widespread use, providing unambiguous identifying numbers for accessing data on large, medium and small disasters globally.

Background

The GLIDE concept was first presented in 2001 at the Global Disaster Information Network conference in Canberra, Australia by the Asian Disaster Center (ADTC). The disaster information community welcomed this initiative and a technical working group was organized that further developed and implemented the GLIDE.

GLIDE users

GLIDE is designed to meet the needs of a wide array of users in the disaster management community, including disaster data suppliers such as national and local authorities, specialized technical agencies and global information clearinghouses.

A number of disaster data providers have adopted GLIDE and are adapting their information products accordingly. Many national governments are also in the process of developing GLIDE-compatible databases.

For further information, please contact:
eird@eird.org