#ESRIUC Oil Spill Discussion: How is crowdsourced data used?

A late entry to the Tuesday lunch time sessions was one I saw tweeted last week related to GIS use and the Gulf Oil Spill. Offered as a chance to ask questions, share information and network, the unstructured session prompted some interesting, if unanswerable questions:

What datasets have gotten more value since the spill?
What can we learn from this spill about what to basemap to deal with future spills?

My real goal in attending was to ask my big question (the one we posed in this podcast): What are agencies doing with the crowdsourced data from the various mobile and Web apps out there?

I got an answer from a NOAA staffer (and I think another NOAA staffer), which I paraphrase:

Basically, each Incident Command Post (ICP) does its own thing. Some are selecting one app, training volunteers to use it and then tapping into that “authoritative data” to send resources. The rest has “anecdotal” value but could of course be “noise.” Each post has a Social Media Coordinator who is ideally keeping an eye on the social sphere, if not monitoring it formally. The Florida Gator Program was noted as an example of group using social media.

No one else in the room could speak to how crowdsourced information was being used.