Information about an external event that may be of interest to some of our readers:
“You are warmly invited to attend the launch of the Missing Maps Project, a collaboration between the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) , the British Red Cross, the American Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) . This exciting project will draw on a massive force of volunteers to create accurate, up-to-date, permanently open source maps of locations vulnerable to disease outbreaks, epidemics, natural disasters and conflict.
This article from the Guardian gives more information about the mapping process, and the aims and the ideals of the project. Also, we have just launched the website, which is at missingmaps.org.
The launch will take place in the John Snow Lecture Theatre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on Friday 7th November from 6pm. After registration there will be speakers and a panel discussion followed by a mapping session.
On the evening, we will launch the mapping of a slum in Dhakar, the capital city of Bangladesh. At present, no map of the area exists. Once the base map is completed, local volunteers will be recruited and mobilised in late November to field map the area, in time for an epidemiological survey of the area to take place at the end of the year to asses the health needs of this radically under-served community.
We will also be continuing to map areas of West Africa affected by the Ebola outbreak. This is urgently needed to improve contact tracing and carry out education and prevention programmes.
To register your attendance, please click please click here.
Maps and mapping are a well-established and essential part of disaster response. Having up-to-date, comprehensive maps freely available for immediate use is crucial to the effective direction of resources in emergency response, coordination, and preventative operations. This is the aim of the Missing Maps Project.”
