The webcyclopedia is envisaged as a matrix, ordered in terms of cities, hazards and risks. The rows of the matrix will be envisaged to be the cities, whereas the hazards and risks form the columns. The ordering of cities will be determined by the past scientific studies of the members of the commission, the future activities, and contacts made as a result of the on-going commission initiatives. The hazards to be considered will be determined by the scientific skill base, as determined by the IUGG associations - hydrological, meteorological, marine, tsunamis, volcanoes, seismic, geodetic (landslides), geomagnetic. The risks will be determined by the sustainability issues such as infrastructure issues (building vulnerability, robustness of infrastructure), and health issues (air quality, water quality, contaminated land).

The Webcyclopedia project will seek to find volunteers who will provide web-based material to insert into the cells of the matrix. The form of such material could be many and varied, ranging from the traditional scientific paper through to interactive hazard maps, real time data, models of the phenomena, or merely hyperlinks to other sites providing information on the topic.