News
HOT Activation, South and North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Worrying situation in the Kivus 2012-12-16 Given the more severe situation in the Kivus, HOT changes the status from Pre-Activation to Activation. In a...
Update from the Red Cross on Gulu and Lira
An update and thank you from Robert Banick at the American Red Cross on Gulu and Lira mapping
The first stage of the Red Cross's on-the-ground mapping exercises are wrapping up and I wanted to provide an update to all the incredible volunteers who got us this far.
[inline:2012-09-06 12.57.56 HDR.jpg]Your contributions to OSM were huge to us in Gulu, where we led a training on GIS basics for 12 Uganda Red Cross Society members. OSM in Gulu was used throughout to ground the course in real data: our GPS exercises were about collecting data for OSM and our mapping sessions made heavy use of the Gulu data. Uganda Red Cross staff were pretty delighted to see their contributions go right into the map. [inline:Gulu Fire Risk.png]
From Remote Tracing to Field Mapping in Padang
Padang, West Sumatra, has been identified as one of Indonesia's most vulnerable cities; in 2009 an earthquake claimed over 1,100 lives and destroyed or...
Tropical Storm Isaac getting to Haiti
Came accross this serious hurricane warning today from NOAA, informing that the tropical storm Isaac may hit Haiti severely from the next 24-36 hours. We think it is worthy to take Isaac seriously and so we are starting a local preparation coordinated by Jaakko Helleranta and Brian Wolford who have been living in Haiti for almost two years and have carried out many OSM activities and participated to HOT programs there.
Understanding Risk Forum, Mapping Global Risk, July 2-6 2012
The World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Risk and Recovery (GFDRR) organizes the Understanding Risk (UR) Forum every two years. The theme of this...
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.
Wrapping up the Libyan Health Facility Activation
On January 14, we formally closed HOT's activation to help map health facilities in Libya.
This was definitely a new kind of activity for HOT. To start, we were directly by WHO to take part, and staff at the Tunis WMC office was incredibly active in the entire process.
HOT Mapping for flash flood affected areas in Northern Mindanao, Philippines
Northern Mindanao(specifically Cagayan de Oro and Iligan) was ravaged by flash floods last December 2011. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) initially reported 900 people have been killed, over 1,500 have been injured and almost 285,000 are served inside and outside 62 evacuation centers
A return to Haiti two years on
It is January 12th, 2012, 2 years after the quake, that I started my eighth trip to Haiti where HOT will partner with the...
HOT Collaboration with GIS Corps!
GIS Corps is joining together with HOT again for a joint project. The first collaboration between HOT and GIS Corps occurred during the Samoa...
Activation to Map Libyan Health Facilities
The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked HOT and the Stand By Task Force (SBTF) to activate to map health facilities in in Libya....
Cooperation between HOT and DigitalGlobe in Turkey
We almost forgot to report on our earthquake response in Turkey from this October. Fortunately Suha Ulgen recently did an interview that reminded...
OpenStreetMap and Quantum GIS Training in Bali
On 5th "“ 6th December 2011, HOT came to Bali for another training. Here we were working with Australian Community Development and Civil Society...