Thank you to Patrick Meir of iRevolution for this excellent collection of links from his blog post, “Field Guide to Humanitarian Mapping”
- A humanitarian icon set from UNGIWG
- Low-cost alternative GIS software tools
- Free-of-cost GIS software (but not open-source)
- Free and open source software
- Data Sources
- ReliefWeb directory of websites related to GIS and mapping
- geo4ngo
- GIS Development
- WHO Public Health Mapping
- The Geography Network
- Digital Map Archive
- Satellite Remote Sensing
Mapping your world
Net-Map is an interview-based mapping tool that helps people understand, visualize, discuss, and improve situations in which many different actors influence outcomes. By creating Influence Network Maps, individuals and groups can clarify their own view of a situation, foster discussion, and develop a strategic approach to their networking activities.
Mapping Worlds: New Maps for World Affairs. The Humanitarian Response Index map is particularly interesting, showing how countries rank in terms of their provision of humanitarian and development assistance.
Show/World project resizes countries so that their appearance on the map represents the data for a particular subject. For instance, if you look at their map on internal displacement, the largest countries suddenly become Sudan, Colombia and Iraq, while most of the western world fades to a microscopic size. The Show/World project includes maps on a wide, wide range of topics, everything from demographics to armed forces spending to remittance.
Ushahidi combines user-generated reports and Google Maps to integrate crisis-related information. The site "allows anyone around the world to set up their own way to gather reports by mobile phone, email and the web - and map them." They currently have maps dedicated to tracking the conflict in CongoSouth Africa. Their initial map looked at post-election violence in Kenya. and xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Their initial maps looked at post-election violence in Kenya.
Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that is pioneering finance for grassroots businesses in the developing world. Root Capital lends to small grassroots businesses that are locked out of the local banking system and have few alternatives for affordable credit. They provide financing for both short-term working capital loans and longer-term investments, and by using alternative approahes to collatoral can make a case for banking the unbankable. Root capital has provided over 500 loans to sustainable grassroots businesses in 30 countries across four continents. Check out their borrower map
Want to learn more about Google Earth?
Google Earth and UNHCR team up! “Google Earth's new mapping programme takes you on a virtual reality tour with the UN refugee agency of some of the world's major displacement crises and the humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the victims.” – learn more at unhcr.org
Check out Maps 2.0 Blog for their webinar slides on how to use Google Earth as well as PDFs and Windows Media Video from a Humaninet presentation on mapping tools for humanitarian relief and development project.
Maps for the every-man at Geo Commons
Bringing easy and intuitive professional-grade mapmaking to your browser
Arlington, VA - October 1, 2008: FortiusOne, a leading provider of next-generation location intelligence, announced the launch of Maker! -- an easy-to-use web application that enables non-technical users to create actionable maps using their own data and GeoCommons open source data. More than 80 percent of all business data maintained by organizations around the world has a location component. FortiusOne's GeoCommons enables you to leverage massive amounts of valuable data to detect trends, risks and opportunities, resulting in a complete view of your business information and revealing new opportunities to enhance profitability.
"Maker! empowers a much broader audience to access capabilities previously restricted to professionals," said Sean Gorman, CEO and founder of FortiusOne. "The incredible value of GIS analysis has been largely inaccessible due to the high cost and expertise required to implement and use traditional GIS products. Maker! enables simple access to this information and technology without traditional GIS overhead. We are eager to see the new and innovative ways users will draw value and learning from Maker!; the possibilities are truly endless."
Maker!, along with previously released Finder!, an application for finding, organizing and sharing geographic data, form the foundation of the groundbreaking GeoCommons platform. GeoCommons provides non-technical users the ability to view multiple datasets on a single map, draw conclusions, make decisions and solve problems.
"GeoCommons is the first of its kind; a substantive connection between traditional GIS and the open, intuitive GeoWeb," said Gorman. "By streamlining core GIS capabilities we have shortened the map creation process from hours to minutes. "GeoCommons provides the ability to harness data in an intuitive way enabling the average user to solve problems through maps."
read the original article here
Microsoft Virtual Earth is one of many great mapping tools.
Learn how it works and read about some of its different uses here!
Tired of trying to create a record of your world wind adventures and travels after they’ve ended? Frustrated that your friends can’t see the scrap book you painstakingly put together? Check out Sosauce Travel! Sosauce travel uses virtual earth to document personal adventures.
Maps for Web uses virtual earth to create highly interactive, customizable maps that are interoperable – They’re so versatile they even comply with the W3C Consortium standards!
BP uses Microsoft’s virtual earth for emergency response… “Energy giant BP saved its employees when Hurricane Katrina struck, but the process of locating its people and material assets, and making decisions about their care, was time-consuming when every second counted. The company sought a better solution. That’s what BP has now with its Hurricane Management System... It saves BP crisis managers hours each day by automatically consolidating data from 20 sources. Most important, BP personnel worldwide can understand and respond to threats hours faster—with the potential both to better care for the safety of their workers and to save millions of dollars.”
Via Virtual Earth used it to map India! - “We've just launched the new Live Search Maps India site and for a v1 it is SUPER robust. Check out this list of features: Street Maps for 9 important Indian cities Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur and National Road Network of India with roughly 20,000 cities/towns/major localities (as points on the map)…Within these 9 cities, important places likes monuments, restaurants, hotels are also presented as icons in the maps. Maps of supported cities has been stitched with the national road visually and navigationally.” -- Learn more at viavirtualearth.com
