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<font face="Arial">Thanks Nick,<br>
Glad I pitched in - I nearly deleted my post as an outsider...<br>
<br>
I have found and been pointed to (by you & others) a load of
useful info - there is not necessarily a shortage of info, just
that it's in disparate places & I think this is the key
issue. In constructing this reply, I have found much of what I
need to know but each strand isn't quite complete in itself &
you need to find enough strands. Ideally all the info would be in
one place, in a coherent house style but that probably isn't
possible. I could have a go at that but I'd need a bit more
mapping experience under my belt first.<br>
<br>
Re your link - on the whole it is very helpful. First off, I would
prefer the font to be a tad larger as there is a lot of text &
I'm pushing 50 (I saw another older respondent as well so I'm not
alone) & my eyes aren't what they were.<br>
<br>
What I haven't found is much about the value judgements in
interpreting the imagery for disaster purposes. Less of an issue
for those with formal GIS/remote sensing training probably. I
think I am quite good at interpreting aerial imagery, but my
experience is English Landscape (character) and heritage. This is
very helpful: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Bgirardot/West_African_HOT_Mapping_Tips">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Bgirardot/West_African_HOT_Mapping_Tips</a><br>
<br>
To me, it would seem important to know whether a track can take
vehicles but I do not feel qualified to guess at this - some tips
on interpreting rural tracks etc might be useful. This could be a
valuable use of a small amount of time for someone experienced in
this, as it would enable newcomers like me to make a more useful
contribution.<br>
<br>
In general terms, it would be helpful to have a concise "Executive
Summary" about the aims of HOT - in terms of map quality &
accuracy (in metres) and </font><font face="Arial"><font
face="Arial">maybe some of the "woollier" aspects</font></font>
<big>like</big> <font face="Arial"><font face="Arial">whether it is
OK to make an informed but subjective guess etc. </font><br>
</font><br>
<font face="Arial"><font face="Arial">I've just seen this<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://datameet.hackpad.com/Nepal-Earthquake-Mapping-YDjLauUK0Ek">https://datameet.hackpad.com/Nepal-Earthquake-Mapping-YDjLauUK0Ek</a><br>
which addresses a number of the issues I think, in that it is a
user-friendly, concise guide to resources. Good work by the
authors!<br>
<br>
It may be that there is just a lot to learn! To some extent I
thought "I can do GIS", I can do this, but in reality
cartography is a discipline in its own right & it is
somewhat presumptious to assume that a layman can do it just
because they want to help (without any training): It might be
useful to make this point, in a friendly way to deter would-be
mappers who come in & lock squares but don't achieve much.<br>
<br>
Hope I haven't waffled on too much - I've been exploring whilst
I write this and consequently my position has changed a bit.
But newcomers still face the task of finding the information
strands.<br>
Happy to help if I can<br>
Regards<br>
Jonathan<br>
<br>
<br>
</font></font>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<font font-family="Helvetica" size="3" color="#4d583d"> Jonathan
Webb <br>
Freelance GIS Specialist <br>
07941 921905 <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.jwebbgis.co.uk">http://www.jwebbgis.co.uk</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jwebbgis">http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jwebbgis</a></font></div>
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