Abstract
Abstract. The Haiti earthquake in 2010 has been considered a turning point in disaster response because of the support provided by collaborative communities such as OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, CrisisMappers, Google MapMaker and others. Taking advantage of post-disaster satellite imagery these virtual communities were able to give an impressive contribution in mapping affected areas and in damage assessment. Nowadays the crowd sourcing, whether made of experts or not, can play an important role in preparedness and disaster response. In recent years the increase of web applications’ capabilities have enabled more efficient crowd sourcing of environmental data. The most successful integration of tools and data between organizations, institutions or even individuals, happens when the most open standards for interoperability are adopted, such as Web Mapping Services and Web Feature Services, defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium. In order to be widely accepted, the applications should be likely open source. It is unlikely that a single platform can fit every need or terms of use can be broadly accepted (e.g. data ownership). Therefore some organizations could prefer having more control on the application by downloading and running it as their own shared data repository and possibly as a hub for external contributors. Nevertheless, other users could prefer to access to a hosted site where they can simply upload and share their contributions. This paper will illustrate the GeoNode open source application and the principles behind the developing of a community. GeoNode is an example of how an application can be use as a global platform or as a distributed data node to promote the collaborative use of spatial data.
Highlights
One of the key factors for the success of emergency operations is the access to updated and reliable reference datasets
The Haiti earthquake in 2010 has been considered a turning point in disaster response because of the support provided by collaborative communities such as OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, CrisisMappers, Google MapMaker and others
Information was gathered through social media, aggregated with text messages and shared using the Ushahidi platform, an open source software first developed in Kenya to monitor local elections in 2007
Summary
One of the key factors for the success of emergency operations is the access to updated and reliable reference datasets. They are the basic geographic framework on top of which additional spatial information (e.g. affected areas, damage assessment) can be produced and disclosed in order to help decision makers and field staff plan disaster response operations. The 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, with an epicentre near the capital Port-au-Prince, affected three million people killing more than 200,000 (according to government estimate). One of the most devastating disasters of the last decades hit the poorest Western hemisphere country making more difficult the jobs of rescuers and aid workers by the lack of information about the layout of Port-au-Prince. After years of UN involvement in Haiti, all the data collected, such as road networks, health facilities, demographics and locations, were lost in the disaster and their curators tragically missing
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