Crisis mapping
As Crisis mapping or disaster mapping refers to the collection, analysis and presentation of data during and after events such as a ( natural ) disaster or a social or political conflict . An essential task is to make maps of the affected region available (to the public ) as quickly as possible .
Basic idea
After a disaster, helpers and aid organizations primarily need useful maps of the affected region in order to be able to provide humanitarian aid and to find their way around on site, as the employees mostly do not come from the area but operate worldwide. If a disaster occurs in an area in need of stabilization , there are often only simple maps on which important elements such as the technical infrastructure , residential areas and topographical landforms are missing or have been inaccurately mapped. For political reasons, it can even happen that public maps are deliberately inaccurate or flawed in order to make orientation difficult. Publicly accessible maps, which can be called up using geodata management, for example in the web browser of providers such as Google Maps , Yahoo Maps or Bing Maps , are often only well maintained and reliable in economically interesting areas; other regions are often still little more than a white spot .
If high-quality maps exist, it can be very time-consuming and too expensive for non-governmental organizations to obtain the map material. Since a major catastrophe is often the focus of public attention, maps are also interesting for media representatives and the general public in order to illustrate the situation on site or to obtain general information about the region. By the media treatment also increases donation nbereitschaft, which in turn benefits the local stakeholders.
If sufficiently detailed maps exist, various additional information can be integrated and visualized in them. For example, damaged buildings and streets blocked by rubble can be marked in order to make it easier for local personnel to navigate, for example with a navigation system or current road maps . Using before and after comparisons, the extent of the damage can be determined and assistants can be directed more specifically to the affected sections.
In addition to government organizations such as UNOSAT , which deal with the creation of maps in crisis areas and then deliver them to the on-site deployment coordination center (OSOCC), the idea of crisis mapping is increasingly being supported in open source projects such as OpenStreetMap (OSM). The advantage of working at OSM is that the resulting material is freely available and anyone interested can easily work on it worldwide ( crowdsourcing ). Because many employees simultaneously limit their work to a spatially very limited area, maps can be generated in a few hours or days that would otherwise take much more time.
history
For the first documented application of spatial analysis of local events with the help of Crisis mapping the map of expected John Snow in the accumulations of deaths cholera - epidemic in 1854 London include.
One of the first major events in which crisis mapping was practiced by volunteers was the 2010 Haiti earthquake . People who wanted to help began to record the basic data of the infrastructure, especially in OSM, and to generate considerably more extensive maps than were previously available in a very short time. Since then, various forms of crisis mapping have been used in many crises, and organizations such as MapAction, which otherwise do research with their own employees on site, are increasingly making use of the free data.
Since 2010, crisis mapping has taken place in events such as Libya ( refugees ), flood disaster in Pakistan in 2010 , the earthquake in Chile in 2010 , crowdsourcing and monitoring of ionizing radiation after the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011 , Somalia (refugees) and the tornado outbreak from 25th to 27th April 2011 in the USA . Crisis mapping is currently focused on the Philippines, hit by Typhoon Haiyan , and the region around Kindu in the Republic of Congo . Together with the UNHCR and the REACH organization, volunteers took over data from UNICEF and UNOSAT, which were first converted and then further processed and supplemented to create a detailed map of the camp for refugees from the civil war in Syria in Zaatari ( map view Zaatari refugee camp ) in Jordan to create. The open data model of OSM allows any information (in this case, for example, toilets, kitchens, shops, etc.) to be noted on a map, which is then only displayed when the map is large enough or with special display programs.
technology
Various techniques are used in crisis mapping to create the maps. Due to the fact that there are no or only a few people who can carry out explorations on site and rapid processing is in the foreground, remote sensing is primarily used . Aerial photographs and satellite images are an essential source of data . However, these images are usually subject to high usage fees and restrictive usage rights , which cannot be agreed with the Creative Commons licenses of the (free) map services. The exception to this has been Bing aerial photos since 2010 , which are available to the free map projects OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap for digitizing and generating geographic information. However, these images only offer a limited resolution and level of detail and do not cover the entire globe, so that they are only suitable as a data source to a limited extent. Most of the images are from 2001 and 2004 and therefore do not show the current situation. For the creation of base maps in crisis areas, this image material is mostly used, especially since Microsoft supports the OSM project and crisis mapping and sometimes publishes more recent images for the affected areas. Other providers such as DigitalGlobe allow free access to their often very up-to-date and particularly high-resolution images of a crisis region, but limit their use so that map material that was created on the basis of these images does not meet the Creative Commons license. Due to the often poor image material, it is not possible to do without human labor, as it is sometimes not easy to see whether it is, for example, a roof of a building or a field and automated mapping is too error-prone.
No special equipment is required for crisis mapping for OSM. Every user can register with OSM and edit a map. Various editors are available online in the browser as well as locally installed computer programs. Since the primary objective at first is to map the infrastructure and buildings, no in-depth knowledge of a cartographer is required. Occasionally (similar to the LAN party ) mapping parties are organized where several like-minded people meet. In a first step, for example, paths and roads can be recorded and then later categorized by more experienced users in order to differentiate between paths, field, forest, feeder roads, roads of various orders , etc. Other data such as the condition of the building (collapsed, intact, damaged, etc.) are also added by other forces. This data can then be visualized again using special queries.
In addition to the pure map material, additional information is also entered in the maps. In this way, it can be noted where which resources such as drinking water , food and fuel are available or required. By October 2013 from Google broadcast commercials in television Crisis was the general public mapping known. The film reports on two flood helpers from Halle (Saale) who, with the help of Google's map service, created an interactive, publicly accessible map, which could be used to organize help during the 2013 flood disaster for the Halle region. Another application is the localization of victims with the help of mobile phones : either by a direct emergency call (possibly by SMS ), a text message on Twitter or Facebook or by locating the devices logged into a network . The determined location data can then be compiled on a map by helpers operating around the world and made available to helpers on site.
Organizations
There are different organizations to distribute and organize the work and tasks. These determine the areas for which cards are required and distribute the tasks. The distribution of tasks ensures that several helpers do not work on the same area at the same time and that quality management is ensured. Some organizations are:
- The International Network of Crisis Mappers
- The Standby Task Force
- Humanity Road
- Crisis Commons
- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) Initiative for the use of OpenData and OpenSource for humanitarian purposes
- Sahana
Web links
- DigitalGlobe: Raising awareness Satellite image comparison before and after Typhoon Haiyan
- Short howto in the crisis mapping in OSM and screenshots of various web map services that show how different the amount of data is
Individual evidence
- ↑ overpass turbo
- ↑ Planet Knowledge: Secret and Forged Maps Broadcast: The Secrets of Maps, November 24, 2009
- ↑ Open Street Map community responds to Haiti crisis . Comparison of maps of Haiti before and after
- ↑ Patrick Meier: How Crisis Mapping Saved Lives in Haiti. (No longer available online.) National Geographic , July 2, 2012, archived from the original on November 26, 2013 ; accessed on December 4, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ MapAction own representation (English)
- ↑ "In recent years the great work done by the OpenStreetMap community has helped greatly with availability of basic map data for many parts of the world." MapAction
- ↑ OSM Tasking Manager (as of December 2013)
- ↑ REACH Informing more effective humanitarian action
- ^ UN Collaborates on Zaatari Camp Data in OSM
- ↑ Bing Aerial Imagery (English)
- ↑ Bing Aerial Imagery Coverage Shows the coverage and level of detail of the Bing satellite imagery
- ↑ Bing imagery analyzer for OSM The map shows the date of the Bing satellite images for the selected section.
- ↑ DigitalGlobe: Public imagery access ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ What stopped? Volunteers update maps of the crisis region in the Philippines. This is often vital for the helpers on site. Article by Bernd Eberhart in Zeit Online. November 21st 2013
- ↑ Google advertising film on flood card: Ambassador for Halle Article in Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (October 28, 2013)
- ↑ Lars and Isa: Zwei gegen die Flut Video commercial on YouTube
- ↑ Hall overview flood Google Maps: Map with the last information entered.
- ↑ Need to know: Crisis Mapping video contribution (English). May 13, 2011
- ↑ OSM Tasking Manager Job 364
