[HOT] Immediate mapping tasks for HOT/CrisisCamp Sydney

Shoaib Burq shoaib at nomad-labs.com
Wed Aug 25 01:05:20 BST 2010


Hi all

Apologies for the cross post. After further consultation with folks at WFO
and OCHA I have identified a few simple mapping related tasks to help
immediately.

*Problem Statement:*

So the basic problem is that they have just finished a number of rapid
damage assessments that have been undertaken by NGOs to assess the initial
case load for food distribution in Punjab, Sind and PK. Due to a lack of
trained personnel, time and equipment constraints these haven't been
complemented by GPS coordinates.  However village names have been used in
the reports. So the data is at the village level and contains information on
the %age population and %age land affected. Since the GPS coordinates are
missing they are having to aggregate the data at the district level which
severely limits the ability of the teams on the ground to take action e.g.
the Helli-drops. Based on this there is an urgent need to help geocode the
village names using the OpenStreetMap database and convert these assessments
to the village level. I have been promised these rapid assessments - still
waiting.

This will be done through a two pronged approach:

1. Add as many Village names to OSM Pakistan as possible using maps from US
Defense Mapping Agency (see
http://img.skitch.com/20100824-rdj3ba5shu6mguk7rredcdf7rf.png)
2. Give the reports to Volunteers at the CrisisCamp and teach them to search
OSM database

Having done the above we can start to build some much needed tools on top of
this data e.g:

1. Create a Geocoder using the OSM database that can handle miss-spelt words
2. Add the ability to batch Geococde using a spreadsheet
3. Add the ability to do reverse geocoding

I need some short (3min or less) tutorial videos that show novices how to
add village names using US Defense Mapping Agency in Potlatch.
You can see the data sources here:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/2010_07_Pakistan_Floods/Imagery_and_data_sources

Let me know if anyone has time to help with the videos. We also need to map
any roads that can be seen in the US-DMA maps.

Thanks
Shoaib Burq
--
skype: spatialgoat
http://twitter.com/sabman
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