Wednesday, February 24. 2010

Update 5: Multiple Geospatial Resources for the Haitian Earthquake Efforts

Throughout this past week, we've continue to add more resources on how the geospatial community is assisting the rescue efforts for the Haitian earthquake (*Updates):

Maps & Web Services

• USGS
• USGS Hazards Data Distribution System
• ERDAS Web Service (UPDATED Jan.22)
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Source: ReliefWeb)- Haiti population maps
• U.S. Army Geospatial Center

Satellite Imagery

• DigitalGlobe - WorldView-2 Imagery (free, but registration required)
• DigitalGlobe - Haiti Coverage map (pdf)
• GeoEye
• RapidEye
• Spot Image
  • *Spot's Imagery coverage
• AEgis Technologies - 3D database
• NASA -  Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft captured this false color image of Haiti, on January 21, 2010
• MDA-Radarsat-2
• NOAA Imagery
  • KML File of NOAA Imagery
• NASA Airborne Imagery
• *Pictometry

Community Source mapping websites

• OpenStreetMap
• Google MapMaker
• CrisisCommons.org (Wiki)
• NationsOnline

Mapping Portals

• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) portal - UPDATED (Jan. 22) - NGA has analysts en route to Haiti in support of U.S. SOUTHCOM and Department of State. Deployed analysts will provide geospatial intelligence products and services. NGA has already provided hundreds of products to its SOUTHCOM and State partners. NGA remains committed to making as much information and as many products available as possible--e.g., imagery, terrain maps and others products and assessments--at the unclassified level for use by first responders and disaster response workers. NGA continues to add products to the NGA-earth.org Web site for their use.
• Ushahidi Network (in French)
• Bing Maps - Port-au-Prince
• Google - Lat Long Blog
• Google Earth - KML file
• GeoCommons (FortiusOne)
• Harvard Center for Earthquake Geospatial Research Portal (via @mattartz)
• Depiction's web portal
• Carbon Project Blog - Streaming SDI data services
• Korem/MapWorkspace - Haiti Boundaries
• AND Mapping
  • AND data set of Haiti (free)
  • Online editable map
    

Onsite support:

• GISCorp - The UN has requested support
• MapAction - MapAction team members are on their way to Haiti
  • MapAction Building Damage Assessment
• ESRI - Imagery, maps and other resources
  • ESRI Video - Social Networking and Geo (YouTube)
• ESRI Blog - Accessing OpenStreetMap data within ArcGIS to support the Haiti Earthquake Response
• Immersive Media - Panoramic streetview videos taken by handheld device
• UN/Pan American Health Organization - Disaster Relief

Media

• Wall Street Journal - Good thematic of estimated damage by neighborhood
• USA Today - Map of earthquakes with more than 1000 deaths
• New York Times - Map showing magnitude of the disaster
• MSNBC
• Washington Post
• *The New Yorker Magazine
• *Fast Company - OSM report
• BBC
• *BBC Slideshow of volunteers mapping Haiti

Blog reports

• OpenGeoData
• Thinkwhere
• Google Earth Blog
• Geosquan
• Global Voices
• Po Ve Sham - Muki Haklay's Blog - Haiti – further comparisons and the usability of geographic information in emergency situations
• Spatial Knowlege - OSM progress in Port-au-Prince (video).

Wednesday, February 10. 2010

DMTV #5: Remote Sensing, Haiti, and Social Geonetworks

Remotely sensed data of Haiti became the basis for updating maps of the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake ripped through the country. Suddenly government, NGO, and volunteers collaborated using imagery provided by multiple sources including the USGS, NOAA, Google, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye and many other geospatial technology firms. The result was not only a tremendous outpouring of charity, but a technological success via social geonetworks and government agencies. Directions Magazine editor in chief Joe Francica provides a synopsis of how remote sensing became the foundation for many of Haiti's rescue efforts.

Monday, February 8. 2010

South Dakota Watershed Data Made Available in Google Earth

The data had been available from Natural Resources Conservation Service, but it required software most people don't have. Once the data was converted to Google Earth format (KML) anyone can view it in Google Earth. The cost?

"It only cost $10,000," Ehlers said of getting the information to mesh with Google Earth. "Now that's a really good investment, and I hope other states pay attention and start digitizing their watershed data."

South Dakota was the first state to make data available this way, under an agreement with Google. Funding for the boundary tool came from Hyde County Conservation District, the South Dakota Association of Conservation Districts, the State Conservation Commission, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

- Argus Leader
- app and data download
(Note to USGS and Google: Is this correct? "In recent years, public domain software such as Google Earth has made it possible for anyone with internet access to view maps and high-resolution imagery of the earth’s surface." Is Google Earth public domain? I do not believe it is.

Friday, February 5. 2010

Content/Results from USGS VGI Workshop

I didn't even know this happened until just afterward. Two of the other advisors for the Geospatial Revolution Project came from that meeting to Penn State. It was a small gathering (53) and the only media person there was Brady Forrest from O'Reilly, but I didn't see any coverage of it from him or any of the other attendees. Interesting that there was no impetus for social media use in discussing volunteered content.

In any case, details of the meeting and the outputs are now available on the event website including PPT and PDF of presentations, opening remarks and notes from several sessions.

(Note to USGS: OpenStreetMap is one word, not three.)

via @mhaklay

Tuesday, February 2. 2010

Technology, USGS and the President's 2011 Fiscal Budget

ZDNet dug into the president's budget looking for where the emphasis will be for technology expenditures. Some of the highlights that they found that were somewhat related to geospatial technology spending were as follows:

• The National Science Foundation is getting $766 million for a “cross-agency sustainability research effort focused on renewable energy technologies and complex environmental- and climate-system processes.
• Support for the modernization of the U.S. electric grid.
• NASA's budget will increase for funding to science, exploration and aeronautics and space research technology.

The USGS budget of $1.1 Billion has several areas where geospatial technology might be leveraged:

• Climate Change Adaptation - $11.0 million - Management and policy decisions made in response to climate change impact
• WaterSMART - $9.0 Million - The information will provide tools to address a new set of water resource challenges, including aging infrastructure, rapid population growth, depletion of groundwater resources, water quality impairments associated with land uses, and climate variability.
• Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards -  $4.0 million - The USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California will continue to support emergency planning by developing earthquake early warning capabilities and conducting impact analysis of environmental, human-health and ecosystem responses to earthquakes and other hazards. This project will be expanded into the coastal communities of Alaska, and the USGS will invest in earthquake, tsunami and volcano science to support community planning in the Pacific Northwest.
• Landsat Data Continuity Mission - $13.4 Million - The USGS will accommodate ground-system requirement changes for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission associated with moving the Operational Land Imager to a free-flying satellite and the addition of a Thermal Infrared Sensor on board the spacecraft.
• Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning - $4.0 million  - USGS mapping, monitoring and research provide information to assess the status and vulnerability of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources.

Thursday, January 14. 2010

USA Today Mashup Provides Lesson in Plate Tectonics

USA Today published a mashup of earthquake locations that resulted in 1000+ deaths since 1900. But the additional geology lesson that the mashup reveals may have been missed by most readers. The mashup shows the location of plate boundaries and more importantly the movement along those plates. The red, blue and yellow lines designate ridges or rift ("divergent"), subduction ("convergent") and transverse ("transform") zones, respectively, along which the earth's crust moves, grinds, and creates new crust. The mashup was provided as part of the newspaper's coverage of the Haitian earthquake of January 12 and the data was supplied by the USGS. A map of the fault that produced the Haitian earthquake can be found on the USGS website.