Digital Mapping Emerges as Key Tool in Relief Work
March 28, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Online maps compiled by global volunteer networks have become powerful tools for humanitarian groups working in disaster areas and conflict zones, writes The New York Times.
Japan and Libya are the latest laboratories for “crowd-sourced” digital mapping, pioneered in post-earthquake Haiti, in which volunteers use satellite images and map programs developed by Google, Microsoft, and the “wiki” project OpenStreetMap to help workers on the ground set priorities for providing food, shelter, and sanitation.
A report to be released Monday by the United Nations Foundation, as well as the UN’s humanitarian unit, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and the Vodafone Foundation, says realizing digital mapping’s potential in aid work will require better communication and coordination between relief organizations and volunteer mappers.
