Use of Satellite Imagery at the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)

Abstract

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been using satellite imagery for more than 10 years now; initially for hydrogeological analysis in arid and semi-arid areas, as well as for vegetation follow-up in agricultural projects (irrigation, seeds distributions, etc.). Today, the humanitarian organization most frequently uses very high-resolution imagery for urban water projects, where the necessity to identify population densities, water resources, water supply needs, and pipeline routes is relevant. A growing field of interest is the use of imagery to analyze hostilities during conflict situations. Data and imagery is hosted on our servers enabling our field staff to access them from any of our field offices through web clients from ICRC’s intranet. This approach allows the sharing of simple PDF-maps, but also web-maps, web-applications, or entire dashboards within the ICRC, depending on the needs.