Maps 2.0

Maps 2.0

Maps 2.0
Geospatial Tools for Nonprofits and Humanitarian Relief

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Crises, collaboration, and digital maps (Part 1)
August 15th, 2007

Last week, the ADRA-Caritas team in charge of the upcoming Nepal simulation, Exercise Khichadi, decided to postpone this training event, since the worst monsoon flooding in many years (perhaps ever) was clearly going to occupy relief teams and managers for some time to come. The simulation will take place in early November, preceded by the rescheduled Tech Day on October 31.
The rescheduling activity has compounded the difficulties that the many relief organizations in Asia, including ADRA and Caritas, are encountering.
In parallel, a few volunteers with strong expertise in GIS are working with our partners at ESRI on a small-scale GIS demo for the simulation. Volunteer Sue Gemmell (Portland, Oregon, USA) is coordinating this project, working closely with David Gadsden and Scott Moore of ESRI, in Olympia, Washington, USA. Please watch our Nepal GIS page, and those of you with an interest in humanitarian GIS may wish to RSS this blog, so you will be notified of new postings.
Since the NetSquared conference in May, we have expanded the community of interest and discovered a number of initiatives that are making real progress toward GIS support for situational awareness (SA) in field operations. We will highlight the “best of class” in this blog over the coming months.
Since our team has not tested any of the solutions, we cannot yet say which are ready for field use. But we do see a debate taking shape along numerous axes, including:

Open Source (FOSS) vs. commercial software
The problem of data entry
Simple (pure location, e.g. where is the team located) vs. sophisticated (analytical tools, access to multiple data layers)
Focus on GIS, or information management? Or both?
Involvement of program users, not just the ICT experts
Extent of real-world testing by real-world field teams

We will invite our volunteers and guest contributors to weigh in on these and other topics, with the intention to spur a vigorous dialogue and shed light on GIS solutions that work. This means solutions that work in a field environment, without costly and not-so-mobile infrastructure and designed for quick training, ease of use, and local adaptability.
The demo being prepared for Exercise Khichadi will be simple and modest. Our purpose is to stimulate discussion and collaboration where possible.
My first test is one that I heard from a team in Afghanistan after they returned in late 2001: “we could not find where the UN meeting was to be held, or what time.” Understandable, in a mid-sized city in an unfamiliar culture. Other possibilities and necessities (security, medical, logistical, etc.) were beyond the reach of this team, even without connectivity and dynamic maps, if they couldn’t find the people doing the coordinating. Much has been done since 2001 to remedy this, we are told, and that is what our team will be looking for.
As always, comments welcome!
Gregg

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Map 2.0 at N2Y2 – the Power of Networks
June 8th, 2007

By Gregg Swanson, Executive Director, HumaniNet 
It’s been a full week since returning from N2Y2, and I’m still processing my notes from dozens of conversations and some valuable (and somewhat intense) sessions at N2Y2.   Our calendar this last week has been jammed – a (big) birthday, a (very big) graduation, and some exciting developments in the core activity of HumaniNet – to be covered in a subsequent post. 
Matt Blair and I met some outstanding people from the NetSquared and nonprofit communities, and we send our sincere thanks to the Net2/TechSoup teams for planning and hosting a memorable, enjoyable and high-energy event.  It was a learning experience, for sure. Although Maps 2.0 was not one of the top three winners, we were truly honored to be one of the 21 Featured Projects.  It was fantastic to meet and learn from a group of very sharp, committed nonprofit leaders and funders.   Their organizations are certainly in good hands.  We would not hesitate to collaborate with any and all of them. 
Our discussions abundantly reaffirmed the need for a GIS resource for nonprofit and humanitarian managers, planners, and researchers.   Here is our bottom line: we will continue to grow the GIS community of practice, but in a paced, methodical way.    
The Maps 2.0 team is sorting through the many possible approaches and will launch a project that can and will be sustained.  This is the HumaniNet model, as it unfolded since 2001 – one building block at a time, taking care of field partner needs and creating user-driven processes and content. 
Here are a few summary comments and observations from N2Y2, in random order: 
*  Leaders of technology-based nonprofits fully understand the power of networks, and social networking.   This includes Net2, TechSoup, and Compumentor, but also visionaries like our friends and partners Allen Gunn of Aspiration, Kim Lowery and Tobias Eigen of Kabissa, and Randy Roberson of H.E.L.P.  Actually, all of the 21 Featured Projects and their leaders – and probably most of the 152 original entries – are built on cooperative and networked strategies.
*  When you are on the playing field with star projects that deliver direct assistance in such areas as recycling, family support, and civic engagement, it is not that easy to explain to funders how an enabling model (such as HumaniNet’s) will effect social change.   That’s one of our primary challenges with Maps 2.0.  
*  It is still a bit surprising, but true just the same, that some folks who pay close attention to the nonprofit world are puzzled by the idea of “shedding light” or providing “consumer guide” content to humanitarian teams.  In business, consultative assistance and current tech information is taken for granted.  Excellent resources such as TechSoup, Idealware, and Aspiration (see their Social Source Commons) work really well for nonprofits.  Why is it different if you are managing a refugee camp in Darfur or a medical project in Sri Lanka?
*  A few years ago, I met an executive who said “humanitarian organizations will never collaborate.”  He was dead wrong.  Since the Maps 2.0 vision and initial plan was formed, just two months ago, we have heard from many NGO managers who are eager to share information in this booming space.   There is a sense that GIS will help “raise all the boats,” which is the idea with collaboration.
*  Another challenge for the Maps 2.0 team is to define the primary use cases (“verticals”) and to determine which should be addressed initially.   We will address this by paying close attention to the different user communities.  And not just GIS superusers!  An NGO manager in Nairobi who has had no exposure to GIS still has a set of information needs in running her or his project, and we will reach out to people who are “heads down” in the field.
*  The importance of mapping tools and data sets is massively clear to many NGO program and tech managers.   We’re fortunate to have the advice of several of them on our Advisory Team (which see).  We have been contacted by several highly qualified GIS experts who have offered their assistance in research and evaluation.
*  We also met some very forward-thinking managers from Silicon Valley tech companies, who understood at once what we are about, and the power of networking.  It is really encouraging to know that corporate citizenship is at work in the tech world, big companies and small, software and hardware, local or multinational.
Please check back soon – probably by June 21 – for more on the Maps 2.0 planning and an announcement of a proof-of-concept field demo for relief operations, tentatively scheduled for late August.
Once again, we thank the Net2 team for a fascinating and network-intensive two days!  Also to Gunner for his leadership of the pre-conference meeting, and to all of the Featured Project leaders for being accessible, helpful, and collaborative!
Gregg

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Maps 2.0 at N2Y2 Day One
May 30th, 2007

The first day of N2Y2 has been energizing and very informative – thanks to all the NetSquared team! And the conversations today have been exhilarating and enormously helpful to the Maps 2.0 partnership.
Here are some of the questions we have heard, with really brief answers.
Q: Will Maps 2.0 provide digital maps or mapping software?
A: No – it will be a combination help desk, information service, and “Consumer Report” on GIS. We “shed light” on the best sources and practices in GIS.
Q: What about outreach? Is it “build it and they will come?”
A: They have already arrived, and we’re building it together. HumaniNet’s network in the humanitarian space has put the word out, and we are hearing from users and interested people, as recently as this afternoon. The partnership is growing daily.
Q: How is HumaniNet different from Maps 2.0?
A: HumaniNet has been around for almost five years, assisting humanitarian teams with field communications. Maps 2.0 is a new initiative, by HumaniNet with Aspiration and several NGO partners.
Check back late Wednesday for another post!

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Welcome to Maps 2.0!
May 23rd, 2007

Welcome to the new Maps 2.0 blog!
We have posted some introductory information on the Maps 2.0 initiative and invite your comments and feedback.  While we will not be doing much posting before and during the Netsquared Conference in San Jose, California, on May 29-30, look for a full report on this blog around June 1.
As our first post, we want to commend a very progressive philanthropist – whom we hope to meet in San Jose – for a very collaborative request.
Peter Deitz, a philanthropy consultant in Montreal, has set up a campaign to raise $500 for each of the Featured Projects going to the Net2 Conference.
Peter is raising $10,500 (21 Projects x $500), before the start of the Conference on May 29th, by asking 500 people to give $21 as a way of saying, “We Like What You’re Doing,” to the Featured Projects.
Please consider a $21 donation to support the entire list of winners – thank you!
Also please note Britt Bravo’s request for chat moderators during the conference.
We are grateful to our community of supporters for helping us become one of the 21 featured projects, to NetSquared for their exceptional pre-conference work, and to the conference sponsors too.
For a perspective on the importance of GIS, please see Peter Dickinson’s brief article “Why GIS” on a neighboring blog page.
Please check back soon – Maps 2.0 will be planning and organizing for success in June. Also watch the HumaniNet Web site.  If you would like to subscribe to HumaniNet’s eUpdate e-newsletter, please email us at info [at] humaninet.org.
Gregg Swanson and Matt Blair
HumaniNet

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