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Relief Maps

Relief Maps for viewing and download New Orleans 2005 Indonesia 2005 Pakistan 2005/06 City of Port Elizabeth 2008 (South Africa) Nepal : Partnerships for Progress 2009 Haiti Mission 2010 United Kingdom 2012 and 2013 Poverty Solutions Mapping Ethiopia 2013 Poverty Solutions Mapping

Why are maps so important to aid workers both in the field and at headquarters? The generic advantages of relief maps are as follows:

Supra-linguistic

Presentation of data through the use of icons, shading, hatching, colour, contrast and scale enables people of all languages to understand the maps.

Data compression

Maps concentrate large quantities of information on one sheet of paper, enabling data to be rapidly cross-referenced and acted upon.

Flexibility

Interchangeable sectoral overlays enable timely and accurate decisions on populations, markets, logistics, strategy, security or policy. Sectors may be integrated and interrogated to meet specific user requirements.

Environmental linkage

The needs of the environment and people are in parallel, if the needs of either suffer, they both suffer.  Maps can help define those needs
and mutually compatible solutions.

Safety

Accurate mapping of minefields and military no-go zones improves the security of relief workers, local resident populations and victims or refugees. Minefield maps will be made with data from highly specialised de-mining NGOs such as HALO or Mine Action Group.

Logistical accuracy

Sectoral data presented in graphic overlays enables locations of greatest need and quickest routes to be swiftly identified.

Communication

Co-ordination between all decision makers, in-the-field, field-to-HQ and HQ-to-HQ, depends on good communications. Accurate maps act as focus for cooperation in the field, which is the primary purpose. Everyone ‘from Iraq to Geneva’ will literally be ‘on the same page.’

Economies of time and money

Near real-time updates and the concentration of data in graphic form stops duplications of needs-assessments on the ground and facilitates swifter, co-ordinated, strategic decisions in different locations.

Public awareness

Donor and media use of maps clarifies public perceptions of humanitarian emergencies, speeds up responses and reduces donor fatigue.

Accountability

Maps encourage greater openness, improving assessments of the effectiveness of relief operations and enhancing donor commitment.

Lives saved

Quicker response times and better-targeted relief make the difference between life and death in complex emergencies.