Mapping for Humanitarian Response 2019 — MapAction and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
Who are the humanitarian mapping community and how can they help?
The last decade has seen a significant increase in unpredicatable and extreme weather events. 2019 proved to be no exception.
From Cyclone Idai in March, to the disasterous impact of Hurricane Dorian in August, these extreme weather events often have life-changing impacts on the communities affected.
As climate change continues to make our weather more unpredictable, the number of extreme weather events is likely to increase. As the recent The Cost of Doing Nothing report by the IRFC predicts, by 2050, 200 million people could need emergency aid because of climate-related disasters.
When a humanitarian disaster does hit, it is vital that first responders have access to the maps and data they need to save lives and relieve suffering. This is where the humanitarian mapping community can support.
One of first responders to assist in the aftermath of a disaster is UK based charity MapAction. Consisting of around 60 volunteer mapping professionals as well as other technical volunteers and a small staff team, MapAction is often at the scene within 24–48 hours of a disaster striking, supporting the coordination of the response through the supply of mapping and data services.
The wider humanitarian mapping community also contributes to the response through organisations such as the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and the Missing Maps project. With over 100,000 volunteers worldwide and hundreds of mapathons held each year, the impact of the community in certainly significant.
This post will review some of the efforts of the humanitarian mapping community in 2019 and look forward to the next decade. We will also delve into some technological advances and dig briefly into potential opportunities arising from such community developments.
Humanitarian mapping in 2019 — a summary
In 2019 MapAction were involved in 7 emergency responses, 7 preparedness missions and 10 training missions, totalling around 600 volunteer days. Emergency responses included Cyclone Idai, Hurricane Dorian and Djibouti floods whilst prepararedness and training exercises were carried out with a number of partners including the United Nations Disaster and Coordination (UNDAC) teams.
Meanwhile, HOT and the Missing Maps Project have continued to add previously unmapped places to OpenStreetMap. To date, the community has now contributed 52 million additions to the map including 44 million buildings and over 1 million km of roads.
Back in 2017 I looked back at the year for the Missing Maps Cambridge community. In the following two years, the Cambridge community has added 50,000 addtions to the map whilst the overall contribution of Missing Maps has increased from 15 million to 52 million. That’s an increase of 350%!
This increased availability of data directly supports humanitarian response. Granting responders such as MapAction access to this data enables reference and situtational maps to be created with a higher rate of accuracy, completeness and timeliness. The range of uses for such data is vast, from estimating population density to supporting search and rescue teams in carrying out ground surveys of affected local areas.
Cyclone Idai and Hurricane Dorian Emergency Responses
Two examples where the humanitarian community was called upon in 2019 were in response to Cyclone Idai and Hurriane Dorian.
Cyclone Idai saw multiple MapAction volunteer teams deployed to Mozambique to support UN-OCHA and WHO teams on the ground. At the same time the HOT community were deployed to help map vulnerable and isolated regions yet to be put on the map.
Through the efforts of the humanitarian mapping community, it was possible to supply vital situational maps to the humanitarian response teams. One key example is highlighted through the creation of the aerial survey sector map. The deployment of helicopter surveys enabled high resolution GPS data to be quickly collected over the large affected region. It was then possible to overlap this GPS data with reference data (often sourced from OpenStreetMap) to develop a segmented situational map. Such aerial survey maps were key in supporting ground teams focus their response on the most vulnerable communities and deliver aid to where it was needed most.
In August, Hurriane Dorian once again saw MapAction teams deployed to the Bahamas to support OCHA. As with Cyclone Idai, the products developed by the team were used by UN teams and others to coordinate the humanitarian response.
Similarly, the availability of current OpenStreetMap data supported the coordination of response and understanding of geographical impact of the hurricane. The wider humanitarian mapping community, championed by HOT, helping to ensure this data was available and current.
Automation and Collaboration — People, Process and Technology
As the need for humanitarian emergency responses is likely to rise, the importance of available, accurate and timely data and maps is also set to increase.
Image a world where, in the early stages of a response, all current data of the affected area is available within minutes of support being requested. Tools are then available to automatically create initial reference and situational maps which are then seemlessly deployed to the response teams on the ground.
One recent MapAction project has focused on developing a process to automate the creation of initial reference and situational maps. Improving the speed in which consistent maps can be supplied to humanitarian response teams will prove invaluable in the initial assessment and coordination in aftermath of an event.
To develop such maps, consistent data sources are required. As such, in 2020 we will continue to focus on automating the so called “Data Scramble”. MapAction’s established data scramble methodology sees volunteers scour over 70 known online sources to locate reference and situational data of affected areas. These datasets are then consolidated into a standard format to support the creation of the mapping products.
In the past, one of the difficulties MapAction has faced is knowing where to source the most accurate and up-to-date data of an affected regions. In recent years the introduction of platforms such as the Humanitarian Data Exchange and the HOT Export Tool have significantly helped in the collation of key datasets in the initial stages of a response.
If we are to enable the automation the data scramble it is vital a source can consistently be trusted to supply the most up-to-date data. The foundations for this automation have been laid, but further work is required to ensure consistency.
Progress is being made, and, at the HOT Summit this year, a round table discussion was held between HOT, MapAction, healthsites.io and HDX on improving the availability of key humanitarian datasets.
Collaboration between different organisations is vital. If as a community we can ensure consistency in the way in which data is collected, stored and deployed, we can develop processes that supports rapid deployment of response maps.
Through unlocking the process of data consistency and automation, far more opportunities for data interaction and visualisation will also be presented to support decision making.
The use of interactive tools such as Tableau and Power BI offer opportunities to present data in ways that are complimentary to the traditional paper map. The link below shows an example of how Tableau can be used as an interactive tool in humanitarian response:
The increased availability of cloud technologies such as AWS and Azure will also enable new data, such as real time streaming and big data, to be used in humanitarian response. For instance theoretically, through tracking IDP migration flows through anonymised mobile location data there are opportunities to proactively plan logistical support for humanitarian response.
As a community we are still somewhere off the consistent use of big data, predictive analytics and automation in the initial stages following a disaster. However in 2020 we will continue the development towards this goal. In this instance it is not just technology that will enable this vision to become reality; people and processes play a key part too.
Humanitarian Mapping and Artificial Intelligence
Whilst improvements in the initial response methodologies continue to develop, in the background signficant steps have been made in the development of AI methodologies to map unmapped areas in OpenStreetMap.
One of the most impressive (and sometimes controversial) releases of the year was the introduction Facebook’s project, mapwith.ai.
Map With AI focuses on creating tools that enable the mapping community to enjoy a faster and more accurate mapping experience. The release of the OSM tool RapiD, builds on the existing ID editor through enabling the mapper to create predicted features that artificial intelligence has identified, saving time and effort in drawing them.
Such tools have the potential to greatly support humanitarian response. The higher the availability of road and building data, the wider the understanding of the current situation and therefore the more effective the response to the humanitarian disaster.
Such methodologies also improve accuracy through, for instance, ensuring the topology of road features is fully connected. This will have significant benefits for the use of routing tools further down the road.
Having automated and semi-automated tools available for the mapping community is certainly a significant step forward. However, caution has to be taken when adopting these new methodologies. Volunteers play a key part in the humanitarian mapping community and it is important that the community remains engaged and diverse. Similarly, steps must be made to ensure the wider OSM community is aligned and that AI methods are beneficial to the community as a whole.
Bringing it all together into the next decade
As the 2010s come to a close we are likely to see an increase in humanitarian responses into the next decade. The Cost of Doing Nothing report by the IRFC predicts that 200 million people could need emergency aid by 2050 because of climate-related disasters.
Additionally, as we are seeing in many aspects of life, data will continue to play an increasingly important part in humanitarian response both for short term emergency responses, and longer term development through initiatives such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The adoption of new methodologies such as AI automation and predictive analytics offer a key opportunity in ensuring the humanitarian community can better support the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Similarly, the implementation of new processes to improve the speed, consistency and accuracy of mapping and data products for response teams will be key. People, process and technology changes are required to make the vision of automation and rapid response a reality. Collaboration between key humanitarian partners is key.
As we have seen, the humanitarian mapping community is developing fast. There are a wealth of opportunities available to further this progress and I look forward to supporting the sector develop into the next decade.
Get involved
Anyone can get involved with the Missing Maps and HOT community. Mapathons are held throughout the world and are open to anyone regardless of experience or background. Visit the Missing Maps website to find an event near you.
For those who specialise in GIS or software development, in early 2020 MapAction will be recruiting GIS support and deployment volunteers. Keep an eye on the MapAction website and Twitter for details on the next recruitment cycle.
It is also possible to donate to HOT and MapAction. Proceeds will help to ensure the humanitarian mapping community can continue to make a positive impact.
Steve is a GIS Support and Deployment volunteer with MapAction. He is also a voting member with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.
