Maps from the Crowd in Crisis context OpenStreetMap Response to humanitarian crisis Haiyan Typhoon / 2013 and Ebola Epidemic / 2014 Cases Pierre Béland Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team IHTC 2014, Montréal, 2014-06-01

1. Maps from the Crowd in Crisis context
OpenStreetMap Response to humanitarian crisis
Haiyan Typhoon / 2013 and Ebola Epidemic / 2014 Cases
Pierre Béland Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
IHTC 2014, Montréal, 2014-06-01

2. Nov.8 2013, the Super Typhoon Yolanda – Haiyan
hits the Philippines
www.theguardian.com

3. Nov.8 2013, the Super Typhoon Yolanda – Haiyan
hits the Philippines http://www.ifrc.org/typhoon-haiyan

4. Haiyan Typhoon Nov.8
UN-OCHA reports
● Telecommunication and electricity supplies are interrupted
● Air and seaports are closed
● The full extent of the damage will not be known until the storm
has passed.
Possibly the most powerful storm ever recorded in
history. For the teams that prepare to deploy :
► Urgent need of Geospatial data for the logistic of
operations : Base Map + Damage Assessment
► A large territory to cover with many remote islands
and villages

5. Haiyan Typhoon Red Cross deploying
Dale Kunce at SOTM-US, April 2014
about chaotic situation and great HOT support
●

6. Haiyan Typhoon HOT Response
Nov.7 – Nov.10
● Nov.7, Andrew Buck invites the HOT community.
10,000 buildings traced in Tacloban
● Nov.8 The Super Typhoon hits the Philippines
● Sunday 10th Nov: HOT Activation
Coordinators : Andrew Buck, Pierre Béland and
Maning Sambale
● Coordination with various actors including OCHA, the
American Red Cross, VISOV and the Philippines gov.
● Contacts with US State Dept Humanitarian
Information Unit (HIU) and imagery providers

7. Haiyan Typhoon HOT Response
The OSM base map is the de facto basemap used by the
UN Agencies and international organizations.
Priorities
● Communications : The OSM contributors, developpers and
other organizations are invited to participate
discussion list, #hot irc, Twitter, HOT Updates
● Areas to map : Humanitarian requests / VISOV analysis
of Social medias
● Imagery : Obtain, process and host imagery on
servers(OSM-Fr)
● Adapt product and services to humanitarian needs

8. Haiyan Typhoon HOT Response
● Imagery : Process + TMS Server
● Humanitarian mapping workflow ►Damaged buildings
and infrastructures
● Extracts : Assure frequent updates
● Tools and Services : Show Damaged buildings – Online
and Paper maps.
● Wednesday 13th Nov : Starts Post-disaster Mapping
(damaged buildings and road blocks) of Tacloban.
● Friday Nov. 15th : In week, more then 900
OpenStreetMap mappers have contributed to this
response. They have modified more than 2 million
objects on the map (1.3 million for Haiti).

9. Haiyan Typhoon HOT Response
The first days of the Activation
● OSM Extracts for GIS Analysis, GPS and Android smartphones (daily / hourly
updates)
● OSM Contributor statistics for Haiyan
● 10 days after the typhoon
Humanitarian Map Style is available Damaged buildings (orange) and Collapsed
buildings (red)
● All derived maps can use it
● FieldPapers Paper Maps with grid for field survey,
● MapOSMatic Large Paper Maps with grid, street index and POI and
● Osmose Validation / Correction tool.
● Better field survey and quality control; helps identify infrastructures at risk
● Truck drivers find new roads when road blockages / Debris
● OSM database and Maps updated to the minute
● VISOV supports with the Impact Map https://haiyan.crowdmap.com/
Twitter Photos of disaster hashtags ##reliefPH ##rescuePH

10. Haiyan Typhoon HOT coordination
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Typhoon_Haiyan

11. Haiyan Typhoon HOT coordination
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Typhoon_Haiyan

12. Haiyan Typhoon HOT coordination
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Damaged_buildings_crisis_mapping

13. OCHA Humanitarian Snapshot
OCHA

14. Crowdsourcing 1,600 contributors : OSM Coverage
Comparison with previous OCHA map shows priority
OCHA areas on south Eastern Samar not mapped.
Imagery acquisition and coordination to be examined

15. Haiyan Typhoon Crowdsource map of Tacloban
(population 220,000) Nov. 7 – Nov. 19 vimeo : Derick Rethans
Andrew.CartoDB For all zone http://bit.ly/19gNj52

16. Haiyan Typhoon Crowdsource map of Tacloban
http://pierzen.dev.openstreetmap.org/hot/leaflet/OSM-Compare-before-after-philippines.html#16/11.2460/12

17. Haiyan Typhoon Organizing Mapping effort
● Partition the effort / Control simultaneous access
● Instructions, links to editors
● Confirm completion / Validate / Invalidate
● Assures complete coverage; Monitors progress
Crowdsourced
volunteer efforts
work most
efficiently when
there is an
organizing force
behind the work
www.e-
education.psu.edu

18. Tasking Manager – tasks.hotosm.org
Interacts with Editor tools
◄ Square highlights
zone to map
Automatic download
of existing data
JOSM
RemoteControl

19. ID : Online easy editing

20. Haiyan Typhoon Damage Assessments
UNOSAT, European Copernicus, OpenStreetMap and probably other groups
● No common methodology and no coordination
● Difficulty to assess all the areas to prioritize
● Missing imagery for the base map of some priority areas
● Competition to map places like Tacloban; other places neglected
● In the context of a meteo related disaster, Imagery of 50 cm of poor quality do not
let evaluate with high precision the damages – as expressed by UNOSAT on maps
published and pre-Haiyan reports
Reach Analysis of OSM contributions should be extended to all groups, comparing
results with OSM. They should also take account of the reports following the Haiti
Earthquake
► Necessity to prepare before disasters, have clear methodology,
goals and coordination between the various organizations
Rapid access to Imagery Archive Catalogs of Imagery Providers for better response
For more granularity and flexibility, Civil Drone or Oblique images could come to the
rescue

21. Haiyan Typhoon
UNOSAT Damage Assessments for Ormoc, Leyte
● From Worldview Imagery 50cm, Nov.13.
UNOSAT states :
“Due to the resolution of the imagery and cloud
coverage this damage analysis is an estimate of
damaged structures and does not reflect the actual
total of damaged structures in Ormoc City. This is a
preliminary analysis & has not yet been validated in
the field.”

22. Imagery Pre-Post Disaster

23. Tacloban, DigitalGlobe, Post-Disaster 50cm

24. Tacloban, Civil Drone, Post-Disaster 4cm by Corephil
These Drone images were available after the Activation only

25. Tacloban, Civil Drone, Post-Disaster DETAIL

26. Ebola Outbreak, West Africa, Mar.2014
Mobilisation against
an unprecedented
Ebola epidemic
● Deadly and very
contagious epidemy
● Spreads for the first
time in vast regions
● The priority is to
locate and isolate
suspected cases

27. Ebola Outbreak
● Coordinators : Pierre Béland and Andrew Buck, assisted
by Amadou Ndong
● MSF identified 3 cities as top priority to investigate about the
ebola epidemy and bought imagery. CartONG, with a GIS
specialist on the ground, assured the interface between MSF
and HOT. They were impressed by the result : 12 hours for
detail mapping of Gueckedou, a city of 250,000 people, 20
hours for 3 cities.
● Negociation for free Imagery with Airbus Defense and Mapbox /
Digitalglobe permitted to trace the road network and villages
outbound for neighbooring regions
● Detailed map is very important especially when going from door
to door
● Some Epidemy softwares now based on OpenStreetMap to
follow the patient contacts
●
Andrew Buck preliminary study – Estimation of population from
Landuse surface

28. Ebola Outbreak HOT Response
● March 23 - HOT Members begin monitoring news reports about the
outbreak and informing community
● March 24 - HOT Activation at the request for activation from CartONG and
MSF-CH; initial plans are to map three cities in Guinea
● Search for Imagery since Bing Imagery is not available for the three towns
● March 26 - Reception of high resolution imagery bought by MSF for the 3
main towns, creation of task manager jobs and appeal to contributors to
map
● Detailed mapping for the three towns is realized in 20 hours, including
Gueckedou (250,000 people).
● Coordination with CartONG. Red Cross joins later. CartONG assures the
interface with the GIS teams on the ground; they contribute to complete
the map, adding the neighbourhoods.
● Road and villages are mapped in the neighbooring regions
● Study to estimate village population based on superficy

29. Ebola Outbreak HOT Response
The OSM base map was needed by MSF and Red Cross for
monitoring the epidemy and to travel in the region. Time was a
key element for this Activation
Priorities
● Communications : The OSM contributors, developpers and
other organizations are invited to participate
discussion list, #hot irc, Twitter, HOT Updates
● Areas to map : Humanitarian requests / VISOV analysis of
Social medias
● Imagery : Obtain, process and host imagery on servers (OSM-
Fr and Mapbox servers)
● Adapt product and services to humanitarian needs
Similar services as for Haiyan were offered

30. Ebola Outbreak HOT coordination
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_Response

31. Ebola Outbreak VISOV Map, Epidemy contacts
http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/esov-suivi-epidemie-ebola_6356#6/9.113/-9.152

32. In Summary
Crowdsourcing geospatial data
Haiti , 2010 (600 mappers, 1.3 million objects
approx.)
● Base Map plus identification of Road blocks and
refugee camps; inventory of public infrastructures
● Navigation data for rescue teams : Daily updates
● OpenStreetMap data used in derivative products :
Ushahid Impact Maps, Damage assessment
● Showed the capacity of the Remote volunteers to
support UN Agencies and International organizations

33. Crowdsourcing geospatial data
Haiti , 2010 (600 mappers, 1.3 million objects approx.)
Philippines, Nov.2013 (1,600 mappers, 4.5 million objects)
● Crowdsourcing Base Map tracing, identification of Road blocks
● Navigation data for rescue teams : Hourly updates (Garmin and OSMAnd
Android)
● Damage Asssesments
● Humanitarian style + damaged buildings ► Derived products
● Poster sized Paper maps for Red Cross Teams with the Humanitarian
style, 10 days after Haiyan landing
● Training of field teams for data collection with OSM Softwares
Organizing OSM contributors contributed to more efficient work
►More efficient Coordination - Early identification of priority areas
- Archived Images Availibility - Assessment methods and Goals
- Distribution among various groups of areas to cover
(+ Map who does what ?)

34. Crowdsourcing geospatial data
Haiti , 2010 (600 mappers, 1.3 million objects approx.)
Philippines, Nov.2013 (1,600 mappers, 4.5 million objects)
Ebola Outbreak, West Africa, March 2014
(363 mappers, 1.6 million objects)
● 3 major towns traced in 20 hours; Neighboring
regions were later covered
● Extracts for GIS Analysis : Daily updates
● Navigation data for rescue teams : Daily updates
(Garmin and OSMAnd Android)
● MSF ►Geospatial tools should be part of the answer
for future epidemics

35. OpenStreetMap Tools and Services
In the context of Activations

36. OpenStreetMap
Humanitarian Style
Transport Style ---> Minimal

37. Osmose : Quality control

38. Query Tools : Overpass Service, Building
and Road status visualization using
Overpass OSM Extract Queries
http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1xj
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Damaged_buildings_crisis_ma

39. HOT Exports http://export.hotosm.org/
● Exports in various formats for Gis Analysis

40. Derived OSM Maps OSM layers are integrated in
various products
Red Cross UN-FAO GISCorps ESRI MapBox, etc.

41. Umap Service : POI's and dynamic
url

42. Impact Maps (Ushahidi or the like)
Visov https://haiyan.crowdmap.com/

43. Yolanda Typhoon Geonode
Data Mart to offer exports with various formats
● Road, Bridge damages (extract from OSM)

44. IOM personal Joe Lowry CCBYSA2.0
http://flic.kr/p/hHMxee
“You should see people's faces light
up when we arrive with a load of
OpenStreetMap posters”
Dale Kunce – American Red Cross
American Red Cross. Used with permission
https://twitter.com/RedCross/status/401088520481042432

45. MapOSMaticMapOSMatic
Street Map +
Street Index

46. Field Teams
Wireless equipment innovations to support
Offline road navigation and editing
OpenStreetMap to share data with other
organizations

47. Haiyan Typhoon Navigation data
Robert Banick, Red Cross
“When I was in Tacloban, I ran into a Red
Cross team handing out relief supplies. They
told me that OpenStreetMap—which we
loaded onto their GPS devices as they
deployed—was super useful. The maps saved
them from getting lost or wasting time when
they had to reroute off damaged roads. They
were able to give directions to Filipino drivers.
It all leads to more efficient delivery of supplies
to people affected by Typhoon Haiyan.”

48. Wireless tools
OSMTracker for Android
● Download OSM Background
● Edit Offline, save tracks, update with JOSM
● add note

49. Wireless tools
OsmAnd, Route Details

50. Wireless tools
OsmAnd Navigation Android
● Online and Offline OSM data
● Style plugins ex.Contour llines

51. Wireless tools
OsmAnd Navigation Android

52. OpenStreetMap OpenData Let's humanitarians
share with other organizations
OSM
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53. ● Informal networks based on trust, prior experience, and
common training proved essential to effective
coordination.
Rapid Needs assessment
● A quick situational awareness report provides greater
value than a detailed needs assessment in the initial
days following wide-scale devastation.
● In Tacloban, imagery proved more effective in conducting
rapid needs assessment.