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<DIV class=article-banner-title><FONT size=4>Crowd-sourced maps may help when
disasters hit</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Joel Winston</DIV>
<DIV>12/08/13</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/disasters/news/crowd-sourced-maps-may-help-when-disasters-hit.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=SciDev.Net&utm_campaign=2986186_19%2f08%2f12-Newsletter+GLOBAL&dm_i=1SCG,1S05M,AZS4ZM,6CCUU,1">http://www.scidev.net/global/disasters/news/crowd-sourced-maps-may-help-when-disasters-hit.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=SciDev.Net&utm_campaign=2986186_19%2f08%2f12-Newsletter+GLOBAL&dm_i=1SCG,1S05M,AZS4ZM,6CCUU,1</A></DIV>
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<P id=socialmedia-content class=left>A free online map of the world that is
created by its users is helping developing nations become more resilient to <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/environment/disasters/">disasters</A>, the
Open Source Convention in Portland, United States, heard last month (22-26
July).</P>
<P class=image-caption>Inspired by the crowd-sourcing success of Wikipedia, Open
Street Map (OSM) was set up in 2004, in response to the limited online map <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/data/">data</A> for many parts of
the world. It is thought that over a million people are now signed up and
contributing to OSM's world map.<BR> <BR>Users can trace new routes for the
map, using portable GPS (Global Positioning System) devices that can upload the
data to OSM. More recently, users have been doing mapping work from their homes
by looking at satellite imagery of particular areas to use as a template for
updating the routes in OSM from their computers.<BR> <BR>Kate Chapman,
director of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, an initiative that applies the
principles of open source to humanitarian response and economic development,
told the convention that her organisation's work using OSM had helped
Indonesians prepare for the <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/earth-science/news/is-cloud-seeding-preventing-further-flooding-in-indonesia-.html">floods
that hit Jakarta earlier this year</A> by pinpointing the location of floods and
information centres.<BR> <BR>"The one thing you know about Jakarta, is it's
full of people," she said. "The other thing it has a lot of is flooding… We
brought urban village leaders <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/communication/networks/">together</A> with
university students, and sat down with them and asked them 'where is the
important infrastructure in your village?' And we started
mapping."<BR> <BR>"What inspired the work we do today was the 2010
earthquake in Haiti," Chapman tells <EM>SciDev.Net</EM>. "The earthquake
happened and the OSM community started spontaneously mapping. And soon it became
the most accurate road map of the capital, Port-au-Prince."<BR> <BR>The
maps, which included the locations of displaced people, <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/health/">health</A> facilities and basic
infrastructure, were used by search and rescue teams, as well as the UN and
World Bank.<BR> <BR>Harry Wood, from the Open Street Map Foundation, a
not-for-profit organisation that supports the OSM project, says OSM is a useful
tool for <A href="http://www.scidev.net/global/governance/aid/">aid</A> agencies
during disasters, for a number of reasons.<BR> <BR>"They can go to OSM as
an easy-to-access data source, which can be updated minute by minute," he tells
<EM>SciDev.Net</EM>. "It's high-level detail, capturing road networks in
particular, so it gets used as a base map by these organisations. They then lay
markers on top of OSM for temporary situational updates, for example if there's
a relief centre which has been set up, or death toll statistics for the
area."<BR> <BR>More recently, OSM mappers have been responding to <A
href="http://www.scidev.net/south-asia/disasters/feature/indian-floods-highlight-dangers-of-rushed-development-1.html">June's
floods in Uttarakhand</A>, northern India, where 5,700 people are presumed dead.
Many are working remotely using satellite data to update OSM on roads and
villages in those areas, which can show whether they are still accessible for
trucks delivering aid.<BR> <BR>But Chapman says OSM needs to become more
user-friendly to fulfil its potential.<BR> <BR>"It started out being very
technical," she tells <EM>SciDev.Net.</EM> "So you had to really want to get
involved. There are also language barriers in the documentation and software.
However, the situation is improving, and over time I think it will be possible
for more and more people to get involved."<BR> <BR><A
href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">Link to Open Street
Map</A><BR></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>