Global MapAid and MapAction
Global MapAid is an international mapping NGO with a mission to ‘put the poor on the map, their needs and solutions’. These maps help to encourage local and international leadership to better target humanitarian aid, on the basis of improved and easy to understand knowledge. The final objective outcome is to enable the poor to better prepare for disaster by becoming economically richer, before a disaster strikes. It relies more upon locally trained teams.
MapAction is another international mapping NGO whose mission is to visit rapid onset emergencies and provide immediate mapping support, to enable local and international aid agencies to better coordinate their response to the crisis. It is the older of the two NGOs and has been very successful. It relies more upon internationally trained teams.
The two approaches are therefore complimentary.
The paper below is adapted from a recently published ESRI paper, and it outlines MapAction’s objectives and mission. It is edited by Rupert Douglas-Bate who founded the two NGOs.
MapAction Helps Millions of People
Highlights
- ArcGIS supports the work of international aid organizations and helps save lives.
- GIS creates accurate, dedicated, real-time maps that are essential following a disaster.
- The work of MapAction is supported by GIS-skilled volunteers.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, and floods can strike without warning—and the consequences can be devastating. Lives are lost; survivors face immeasurable hardship. International aid organizations respond to these tragedies. However, their work is often hindered by a lack of knowledge about the region they are working in. When a disaster occurs, the landscape changes, sometimes beyond recognition. Villages, roads, and railways may be destroyed; entire hillsides may slip into valleys; and people will be displaced. To address this challenge, one United Kingdom-based charitable organization creates and distributes real-time maps of a disaster zone. Called MapAction, the organization helps governments and relief agencies coordinate aid and relieve human suffering.
A Need for Greater Coordination
The idea for MapAction first occurred to an aid worker, Rupert Douglas-Bate. He explains: “In 1994, I was leading a water and sanitation engineering team in war torn Bosnia with a budget of U$ 1.25 million of UNHCR and George Soros funding. There were 20 village water supply projects being built when I arrived in Tuzla and afterwards another 20 projects were added, plus a few bigger town projects. One of the key problems facing all the aid agencies was the lack of coordination and the duplication of our activities. I therefore hit on the idea of creating maps as tools that could promote operational effectiveness as well as help us avoid driving inadvertently into mine fields or into front lines, as occasionally our vehicles came home with shrapnel in them. This lead to my decision to borrow some army maps from the Norwegian Army, which were photocopied, laminated and handed out to my aid worker friends.”
On return to the UK in October 1994 Rupert continued to develop this idea, working closely with several friends including Steven Sherwin who was studying for a degree in electronic communications at the Kingston University, London. Yvan Boyjoo an ESRI GIS consultant with Sycare Geomatique from Canada, was also very instrumental. The concepts of a support base with the latest GIS, mobile data collection teams and communications infrastructure to link it all together were established. During this time Rupert worked in several more disaster zones where he refined his ideas by collecting end user survey evidence, which were later incorporated into a business plan successfully submitted to Vodafone.
On June 14th 1999, Rupert paid for the registration of a charity called ‘Aid for Aid’ which later changed it’s name to MapAction on 21st February 2007. The first mapping mission that the new charity accomplished was in Kosovo in 2000, where over six months a GIS class was held to train Kosovars to execute effective data collection. That summer some GIS volunteers came from the USA to deliver an intensive two week training course, including donated software. Later, maps were made to show where vitally needed employment schemes were needed, to help settle thousands of traumatised and potentially dangerous ex-soldiers and civilians; the ‘UN Mission in Kosovo’ then asked for an extension of this first project, but unfortunately funds were not permitting.
In 2001 the organisation was magnificently supported by a businessman Barry de Morgan, through his leadership of a campaign over several months to launch the charity at an event at Imperial College, London on 21st October. Peter Beaumont from ESRI (also an Olympic rower) was most helpful in helping to organise this event. Nigel Press, from Nigel Press Associates also made a magnificent contribution.
By late 2001, the charity had achieved sufficient funds and structure to appoint a team leader, David Spackman, who successfully strengthened MapAction especially in terms of vital standard operational procedures. Later in 2009, David retired and his deputy Nigel Woof took over.
Probably one of the greatest contributors to MapAction has been Andrew Douglas-Bate whose first hand experience of the 1962 Tehran earthquake has lived with him: “The government put out an urgent plea for blankets for the displaced survivors, and the international aid community responded. Many countries sent blankets. The disaster area was soon inundated with them. However, the survivors had many other needs that weren’t adequately met. Most of the available money and effort had been focused on sourcing and distributing blankets alone. That lack of international communication, thus the lack of coordination between aid agencies, has stayed with me.”
Sadly the first Chairman, Hugh Beveridge, died in 2004 and as a founder Trustee, Andrew nobly took over.
An Invaluable, Life-Saving Service
MapAction knew that rapidly updatable electronic GIS mapping would play a crucial role in its work. After conducting some thorough market research, David Spackman selected ArcGIS Desktop solutions, which ESRI has been providing since 2003. ESRI has provided MapAction with ArcGIS Desktop licenses. MapAction uses GIS to collate diverse datasets, topography, and satellite imagery and to create dedicated, real-time maps of disaster areas.
David led MapAction’s major deployment to Sri Lanka following the tsunami that devastated the country in January 2004. A 12-person team stayed in the country for three weeks and created map after map, plotting everything from the locations of food stations to the areas where doctors and medical aid were most urgently required. Then president of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga visited the MapAction team to see ArcGIS in action and to personally show her appreciation for the work of the team.
Since then, MapAction, often in close cooperation with the United Nations, has carried out more than 15 emergency and 55 disaster preparedness missions. In 2008, a typical year, the charity provided an invaluable service following three major disasters that together changed the lives of more than 4.3 million people. MapAction responded to extensive flooding in Bolivia, producing 76 maps in three weeks and distributing over 2,000 copies to government and relief workers. MapAction deployed a team to help deal with the consequences of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. It distributed over 3,000 maps and worked closely with the charity Save the Children to help track its relief aid program throughout the devastated region. MapAction also deployed a team to Haiti where more than 900,000 people were affected by hurricanes and tropical storms. In these ways—and others—MapAction helps save lives.
A Rapid Response to Disaster
MapAction team members, all highly trained volunteers, give their time and skills free of charge. The organization currently has over 70 volunteers, around 30 of whom are deployable at a moment’s notice. Several employees from ESRI (UK) Ltd., ESRI’s distributor in the UK, are actively involved in the charity. The majority of volunteers have GIS skills, but others have complementary operational or medical capabilities. Most importantly, the volunteers all have the right personal attitude and character to cope in very traumatic and challenging circumstances. One of the primary goals of MapAction is to provide a quick response.
“The first few hours of any disaster are absolutely crucial; this is when lives can be saved,” says Rupert Douglas-Bate. MapAction receives an alert about a major incident, usually within an hour of it occurring. David and the headquarters team immediately put volunteers on standby and begin to amass for the region as much GIS-based map data as possible. When the call to deploy comes, often from the United Nations, a team can usually be dispatched in a matter of hours.
On arrival in a disaster zone, MapAction volunteers, equipped with state-of-the-art GPS units, a satellite link, and communications equipment, survey the area and mark the locations of accessible paths, bridges that are still standing, and other waypoint landmarks. They collect situational information from any reliable source and plot it on accurate maps of the area using ArcGIS Desktop software and laptop computers. As the crisis unfolds and new information becomes available, maps are updated in real time and distributed to other aid agencies both electronically and as hard copies. In the future, MapAction plans to make use of ArcGIS Server to increase the efficiency of rapid mapping and to facilitate interoperation with other GIS-equipped agencies in the humanitarian sector.
An Ambassador for GIS
As a charitable organization, MapAction is dependent on donations to enable it to provide its free-of-charge service to developing countries. The organization has received support in kind and cash from many sources: other charities, corporate sponsors, and members of the public. “When a crisis occurs, donations follow,” says Andrew Douglas-Bate, “but we need funds year-round so that we can train our volunteers, keep up-to-date with technology, and at all times be ready to deploy. David Spackman, our CEO, and Nigel Woof, our operations director, have brought to MapAction a strong organizational structure and clear processes that enable us to operate both effectively and cost efficiently. We have a small, lean headquarters; sophisticated storage and maintenance; and just two full-time and four part-time employees. As a result, MapAction is able to ensure that funding goes directly to where it is needed. Every financial gift really makes a difference to people in need.”
Between major humanitarian crises, MapAction offers its services to the humanitarian community, thus helping it to help itself, in the use of GIS. These skills-transfer projects allow MapAction to play an important secondary role in promoting the benefits of GIS worldwide. In the words of Rupert Douglas-Bate, “MapAction is a good ambassador for GIS at the bleeding edge of human need.”
