News
OpenStreetMap at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Disaster Simulation
Last year I spent a bitterly cold day in a forest in Massachusetts, witnessing how people who have never experienced a disaster somehow prepare for taking part in a response. Instructive, frightening, and sometimes funny. Jennifer Chan has been bringing information tools into the process, with an Ushahidi instance last year. This year, there was the opportunity to bring OSM into the mix, and Christian Spanring, Kate Chapman, and myself helped to bring some maps together for the sim.
First Use of New Imagery Agreement: Join HOT to Trace Refugee Camps in Kenya and Ethiopia
Over the past year, HOT has been working with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development to obtain current high-resolution satellite...
Update from HOT's Strategic Planning Meeting
Two weeks ago through a micro-grant from the Wilson Center; the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team board of directors, the Meridian Institute and staff from the Wilson Center met in Washington D.C. The goal of these two days of meetings was to develop a strategic plan for HOT to continue to grow in the next 3-5 years.
Back the First Haitian Creole OpenStreetMap Book!
When the January 2010 Earthquake happened in Haiti the OpenStreetMap community began mapping. We mapped and mapped until OpenStreetMap was the most detailed base map for Port-au-Prince available. In March of that year the handover of the map began. Two years later the handover is not complete, HOT and Community OpenStreetMap Haiti continue to work together coming closer to that day. One very important missing step is having adequate training materials available in Haitian Creole.
Graduation for STM020
On the evening of April 24th there was a graduation for the young people from Saint-Marc who participated in the OSM project. As is customary in Haiti, graduations are an important event. And this one was no different. Among those attending were leaders within USAID, other organizations, and the mayor of Saint-Marc. Many people gave speeches, certificates were dispersed, and there was even a song created by the participants about their experiences.Here is a picture of the mayor of Saint-Marc addressing the program graduates.
Friend Marc-Henry and USAID communicated how pleased they were with the project and the desire to see a program like this happen in the next location.
Washington DC is Nothing... but HOT next week!
Next week the Board of Directors of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team is descending upon Washington D.C. for a strategic planning meeting. You may have previously seen an announcement on some of the digital volunteer oriented mailing list. The micro-grant provided by the Wilson Center is providing facilitation and support with help from the Meridian Institute to further refine our mission and goals. Along with this high-level meeting we've used the opportunity to speak at other events in the area. We hope to see you at some of them.
May 2nd 7:00pm-? GeoDC - Crisis Mapping Focused May Meet-up
Coming to a close in Saint Marc
Hey kiddoes!Brian checking in from Saint-Marc. We are in the final throws of the program here. Hard to believe 3 months is wrapping up. Bananas.The team and trainees here has pretty sufficiently mapped the entirety of Saint-Marc. The last week we have been focusing on quality control, and enhancing the data that is already in OSM. Things have been going well with that, the advanced have really stepped up to show their skills.Other than that there has been much council forming and meetings of the active youth members in the forming of COSMHA-STM, which will be the Saint-Marc chapter of the Community OSM Haiti. Appointments and elections have finished, congrats to them.
Finishing Up in Indonesia...for the Moment
Tomorrow marks the end of HOT's pilot to evaluate the use of OpenStreetMap for collection of information for exposure models in Indonesia. As I sit waiting for my flight back to the United States there is a lot of reflect on and to be proud. Of course there are always things to do better or explore further, but overall I feel that the past year has been a success. There is much to continue and further expand.
Accomplishments
The World Bank and Open Maps for Development, I'm Excited
Yesterday the World Bank further committed to open-data on their blog by stating "the World Bank only supports citizen-mapping efforts that give users free...
Creating Sustainable Community Mapping Projects Workshop
Last week I attended a meeting to discuss expanding the community mapping projects using OSM eastern Indonesia, as well as ensuring they are sustainable....
Night Of The Living Maps in Saint-Marc, 02/07/2012
The week I arrived in Saint-Marc occurred the Night Of the Living Maps (NOTLM), a worldwide event within the OSM community, “where all mappers...
4th Largest Country, 4th Largest City, Best Community Mapped for Preparedness
Rapid growth and low elevation makes flooding in Jakarta problematic. Innovative approaches are needed for contingency planning and impact modeling. DKI Jakarta's Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) is developing a detailed scenario to estimate impacts of future flooding. This scenario will estimate the impact on people, schools, hospitals, and other important buildings. Such a scenario will become a powerful tool for local government and other stakeholders to take action to be better prepared for future floods. This first step in this type of analysis is having available data, without data it is impossible to make an accurate estimation. Throughout March mapping events will be held in DKI Jakarta to work with local leaders to collect such data, by utilizing OpenStreetMap.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada department, Ottawa
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada department (DFAIT) Open Policy Day Session, Feb. 9 in Ottawa, was attended by 200 staff members. Personal in embassies could follow the morning session by teleconference.
The objective was to expose the DFAIT staff to new ways of working for policy making and information exchanges inside the department (ie. Web 2.0, Social network, Open Data, Open Innovation, NGO's and how to adapt with collaborative efforts, etc). There were formal presentations in the morning from USA Secretary of State staff and DFAIT staff, Google, Wikimedia Foundation and World Bank representatives.
Hand over in Saint-Marc, Haiti
After the three weeks set up made by Nico and Brian, it is my turn to come on and support the project on the...
Mapping in Saint Marc. Get on board or get out of the way.
Hey there, Hi there, Ho there,Checking in from beautiful coastal Saint Marc. Everything has been proceeding along here at a terrific pace. Now that the team of young people to be trained is organized and ready to go the COSMHA team has been busy training and coordinating all these people. Most days start at 7:30 with a COSMHA team meeting. At 8 the youth come and there is a morning lecture. During this time the team finishes up the preparation of any materials for the days activities and maybe participates in a training them selves.