Update: MapAction Offers Guide to GIS for Humanitarian Aid
There's a new edition of the Guide (13Mb pdf):
The second edition of the Guide contains 35% more content than the first edition. In response to requests from users there is a completely new chapter on data collection with step-by-step instructions on accessing many free map data and satellite imagery sources available for various parts of the world.
--- original post 3/26/2009 ---
MapAction argues in a piece on AlertNet that GIS is too complex and jargon filled to be widely used in emergency situations. Thus, it offers a guide (announcement) to using Google Earth and open source MapWindow.
My organisation, MapAction, is doing its best to cut through to the simple truths of "geospatial methods" (yes, it's hard even to come up with a word in plain English - "mapping" doesn't quite cover the whole thing). We have just published a guide to mapping for humanitarian emergencies, available free to aid agencies. It gives step-by-step guidance on using Google Earth (free) in the emergency environment, based on the advantage that it can be run without an internet connection. For the slightly more adventurous, there's also a tutorial on MapWindow - an open-source (so also free) GIS software toolkit that takes mapping a stage further yet can be grasped by an enthusiastic beginner in a couple of hours.
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/25 at 05:13 AM |
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