18 October 2011, Geneva, Switzerland.  In keeping with its strategic commitment towards community mapping, UNOSAT has joined resources with Google to make online crisis maps available for the current Thailand floods and the ongoing complex emergency and drought in the Horn of Africa.

UNOSAT map on Thailand flood damage

These digital maps, which can be incorporated into any website, include information from individuals and local communities related to affected areas, areas at risk, water barriers, shelters and more.  In addition to satellite image analysis from UNOSAT, the images provided by the GMES GEO-PICTURES project (in the case of Thailand), DigitalGlobe’s Firstlook service, as well as the US Government NextView license (for the Horn of Africa), allow to visualise the latest updates on the situation in these two crisis areas.OCHA, government entities, and regional actors such as ADPC. As a result information from remote sensing, from volunteer mappers and humanitarian agencies can be combined in one spot. In the case of the Thai floods, for example, the high correlation between the flood extent and severely affected areas mapped by volunteers is evident. This is just one aspect of how this system can generate synergy.

The collaboration between Google and UNOSAT makes it easier for volunteer mappers to focus their efforts on priority areas while the geospatial dimension of emergency information offers a direct link to valuable field information through the a simple map interface for coordinating agencies like OCHA, government entities, and regional actors such as ADPC . As a result information from remote sensing, from volunteer mappers and humanitarian agencies can be combined in one spot. In the case of the Thai floods, for example, the high correlation between the flood extent and severely affected areas mapped by volunteers is evident. This is just one aspect of how this system can generate synergy.

UNOSAT map on horn of Africa

To ensure that field agencies, such as MSF, and UN entities have access to the most up to date information for the Horn of Africa, UNOSAT has been involving a growing number of volunteers who are actively improving baseline geographic information (typically names of places, type of structure, street names, etc). This also facilitates the work done at UNOSAT to accurately analyse the dynamic IDP situation on the ground in Mogadishu.

“Although the direct interaction with volunteer mappers is relatively new to us, we already see the benefits of combining event-specific crowd sourcing with operational satellite imagery analysis” says UNOSAT’s Einar Bjorgo. UNOSAT is further increasing its working relationship with national and regional actors through concrete work and by delivering  the right information and analysis when and where it counts.

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