Sep 20 2010
Geospatial data serve as a handy GPS receiver for guiding personal journeys and enables the security of the homeland too.
The Digitally displayed maps link people through out the world and can save lives. The geographic information systems (GIS) facilitated the first communicators in mapping cities, identifying the survivors of disasters and in providing aid., The Geospatial Revolution Project of the Penn State Public Broadcasting documented the significance of geospatial data in transforming the lives during the Haiti earthquake and it is available as a four-chaptered video series in web..
The technology furnished the data to the responders for helping the sufferers. An open sourcing platform called Ushahidi which is deployed in crisis mapping, sourced the crowd information and transmitted the data from the Haiti earthquake zone to the right coordinates. The volunteers and staff of Ushahidi utilized that data to generate updated maps of the affected zone.
Craig Clarke, U.S. Marine Corps’ civilian analyst who has been interviewed in the video series stated that, any person at any location can be empowered by the open source information.
The four-part series with 13 minute duration starts with a review and continues explaining the working of the GPS. A concise evolution history of the geospatial mapping is included and also covers the human and practical application of crowdsourcing during crisis mapping. The Haitian earthquake disaster is taken as the case study for this video series.
Penn State-authorized Penn State Public Broadcasting serves non-commercial television, radio and online media and their service oriented outreach materials and media programming focuses on major global societal issues.