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Proposed by: German Caritas Association - Caritas Germany Caritas Germany - International Department Karlstr. 40 79104 Freiburg, Germany
Contact (name, email, phone, skype): Gernot Ritter, Disaster Relief Coordinator, Caritas
Tel +49-761-200 390 Mob. +49-160 7157441 Email: gernot.ritthaler @ caritas.de Web: http://www.caritas-international.de
Work is being coordinated on #rhok-maps, FreenodeIRC
At Caritas, we are often faced with the challenge of having suitable maps to assist with global emergency operations. A well-designed Internet mapping system would greatly assist efforts.
Caritas - who we are and what we do
Caritas International provides worldwide emergency and disaster relief and reconstruction for those affected by war, natural disasters and other crises, irrespective of religion and nationality. Emergency aid and charity provided by Caritas are intended for short-term survival and to meet basic needs like food, water, shelter and the mitigation of health issues resulting from a disaster. Efforts can include protecting and assisting victims of desasters, organising counseling and psychosocial assistance, and supporting comprehensive rehabilitation programs.
For our worldwide desaster relief operations we often meet the challenge, to support these with suitable map material which can be updated with project related operational and real time information.
Example 1
In the case of the current flood disaster in Pakistan, a simple system for the real-time creation and development of tailored maps would have been very helpful in enabling us to add important operational information including places with special emergency needs and project sites where large numbers of people have come together to the map and update this crucial information in real time.
This would be a very valuable tool, especially if the functionality would allow for update of the map by various people over the Internet. Thus, our desaster relief staff on the ground in Pakistan could enter up to date project information combined with GPS data into our operative map. The same map could be used by the central project management staff in our Freiburg (Germany) headquarters and updated with additional information and used for various purposes.
The result would be an interactive map of great practical value for the program planning and control of the relief operation.
Example 2:
Another benefit would be at project level. To work in the field, it is sometimes difficult to get appropriate access to information, e.g. where to find a well with clean drinking water to cater thousands of people, for example, as recently needed in Haiti. A member of Caritas Haiti could now enter data with GPS location on where there are intact wells, which would be saved to the map. The same map could be used lateron, e.g. by a group of water experts wanting to examine the quality of the water to easier find the wells - with the help of navigation tools in their cars. They could even upload up to date information on the quality of the water or potential repair needs to the map.
Desired requirements for the map system
| Functional | importance |
| simple, easy to use map system. easy to learn and easy to use | high |
| Access and processing from the field and the HQ without major difficulties | High |
| Common GPS system including the one used by vehicles, | high |
| conversion option to PDF file or similar | high |
| suppressible
functions (among others):
| high |
| compressibility of files for easy emailing | high |
| processing of data for public relations, so that some of the internal data can be filtered out | high |
| show and hide various levels of information | desirable |
| zoom function (ie high resolution of the base material) | desirable |
| possibility of further development of the programmed solution to adapt to changing requirements | desirable |
| downsizing for use on mobile phones for field workers | desirable |
| readibility for information from other programs | desirable |
| possible to network with other organizations, | not essential |
| presentation with Flash Player ( allows "moving pictures" - hurricane, flood, show changes over time, etc) | not essential |
| link with a spreadsheet function (eg, total project costs associated with specific sites in the map, potentially sums for costs created by specific project categories or partner organizations.) | not essential |
Example 1 - Flood in Pakistan (or elsewhere)
In the case of the current flood disaster in Pakistan, a simple system for the real-time creation and development of tailored maps would have been very helpful in enabling us to add important operational information including places with special emergency needs and project sites where large numbers of people have come together to the map and update this crucial information in real time.
This would be a very valuable tool, especially if the functionality would allow for update of the map by various people over the Internet. Thus, our desaster relief staff on the ground in Pakistan could enter up to date project information combined with GPS data into our operative map. The same map could be used by the central project management staff in our Freiburg (Germany) headquarters and updated with additional information and used for various purposes.
The result would be an interactive map of great practical value for the program planning and control of the relief operation.
Example 2 - Earthquake in Haiti (or elsewhere)
Another benefit would be at project level. To work in the field, it is sometimes difficult to get appropriate access to information, e.g. where to find a well with clean drinking water to cater thousands of people, for example, as recently needed in Haiti. A member of Caritas Haiti could now enter data with GPS location on where there are intact wells, which would be saved to the map. The same map could be used lateron, e.g. by a group of water experts wanting to examine the quality of the water to easier find the wells - with the help of navigation tools in their cars. They could even upload up to date information on the quality of the water or potential repair needs to the map.
see above (list of required functionalities)
not provided...
Links to similar projects, background reading, research, designs, existing work, data standards etc.
This need is being aggregated into a combined project with Red Cross & Oxfam:
There is some overlap with this RHoK project:
How will this work be taken to real users, or further developed? Will this be an ongoing team? Is there a NGO/group that's sponsoring it as an ongoing project? Who/how/when?
Link to RHoK and other solutions projects, including different groups, but particularly the Project pages from RHoK events