Nordic Geospatial Blog » Communications

Tools – #FCC con’t – FOSS4G, Time to Market & RESTful APIs

Administrator — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:37:06 +0000

The following video by Mike Byrne (FCC GIO via the 2011 FOSS4G Conf. in Denver – http://2011.foss4g.org/ ) and resources are very useful and prescient to a new, scaleable, resilient, and cost effective way of doing ‘geo’ business -

http://vimeo.com/29410731

Use ‘This Tract’ derivative app to learn more place-specific (XY) information via Data.gov about your location –
http://thistract.com

& for ye iPeeps out there, how bout a mobile app

https://github.com/benbalter/National-Broadband-Map-Web-App

and lastly, to prove this is not a flash-in-the-pan geo revolution with a lifespan shorter than a Kardashian marriage, the Pew Jedi Knights have weighed in…

http://www.pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2010/Geolocation-Services-Gaining-Ground.aspx

FOSS4G 2011 Mike Byrne: A new way of open data from Peter Batty on Vimeo.

Tools – #FCC and #Broadband Mapping Resources

Administrator — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:33:01 +0000

As the foundation of the information ‘superhighway’, broadband connectivity across the US (rural, urban, tribal, etc.) is a vital component of the critical infrastructure of our nation’s future communications and competitiveness – well done FCC maps and GIS team!

http://www.fcc.gov/maps

Great blog and small business cyber security planning resource
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/empowering-small-businesses-become-cyber-secure

For developers – http://www.fcc.gov/developers

GIS programs – http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/info/maps/programs/

Embeddable map collection > http://tiles.mapbox.com/fcc

Reports – Guardian UK Riot Maps & NSF Indoor First Responder Tracking

Administrator — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:42:34 +0000

Given that geospatial tools are effective at a variety of scales, here are two timely meso and micro scale developments of note -

Mapping the transit routes (aka OD, Origin-Destination, Modelling) of UK rioters via the @Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2011/dec/05/england-riots-distance-travelled-map

Download PDF here > http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2011/08/15/rioteventsandaddresses.pdf

” They were the “riot commuters”, people who came from far and wide to take part in – or just watch – the disturbances across England. But did they really exist? How far did people actually travel?

Now we have the first answer: 2.2miles

According to analysis by the UK’s top transport data mapping company, ITO world – based on the Guardian’s database of riot-related court records – the average distance from home to where defendants were accused of a riot offence was just over two miles, or a half hour walk.

If the most likely road route was taken into account, that distance rose to 2.6 miles.

That varies between cities – in Manchester, the average from home to offence location was 2.8 miles. In Birmingham, the average was 2.9 miles and in Nottingham, 2.6.

In London, people were closer to home: 1.5 miles in Peckham and 2.2 miles in Brixton. But those accused of riot-related offences in suburban Ealing and Croydon were 2.7 miles and 2.3 miles.”

Via the National Science Foundation (@NSF), using advanced sensor technologies (i.e. mobile accelerometers,, GPS, WiFI, Bluetooth, etc.) to track first responders INSIDE of buildings during disasters – aka the ‘holy grail’ of HLS/EM GEOINT since 9/11 -

http://t.co/ZieMvTJE

And once such sensors are deployed, note the compelling Google (Earth, Map, Latitude) foray into documenting INDOOR spaces at key sites (#CIKR) –

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps-mapping.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/12/05/google-indoor-mapping-at-malls-airports-creates-new-market/

Non Sequitur – #BigBangTheory’s use of #GEOINT

Administrator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:51:50 +0000

Here’s how to control the #paintball #battlespace using tablet computing, Twitter, GoogleEarth, and, of course, camo outerwear : ) -

Report – @CrisisCommons & #SocialMedia for #Emergency Response #SMEM

Administrator — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:01:40 +0000

2011 Social Media + Emergency Management Camp: Transforming the Response Enterprise

Via CrisisCommons.org:

http://crisiscommons.org/2011/11/11/smem/

#SMEM Camp Report Released

On Wednesday November 10, 2011 a community of emergency management practitioners in collaboration with a volunteer research team at CNA, released a report of the findings of the March 2011 Social Media in Emergency Management Camp. During this event emergency managers and practitioners gathered to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using social media and other emerging technologies in emergency management. The primary objective of the gathering was to capture best practices, challenges, future engagement and training opportunities.

SMEM Camp event brought together more than 150 members of the U.S. emergency management community convened to discuss how social media and emerging technologies are affecting response operations. Findings of this event, along with additional collaboration with the community, has yielded the first independent, community-led report reflecting the needs and challenges of our nation’s emergency services systems ability to leverage social media tools to support emergency management functions, not only during crisis events but during preparedness, recovery and mitigation efforts.

SMEM Camp was hosted by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and the SMEM Initiative, in collaboration with CrisisCommons. Participants included representatives from state and local emergency management agencies, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross, Twitter©, companies like Citibank, and volunteer technology communities. SMEM Camp was a direct response to changes in societal expectations of emergency responders (e.g., the timeliness of response) brought about by the emergence of social media and related technologies over the past decade.

The participants and researchers collaborated with hopes to share an independent and grassroots practitioner perspective which can to shed light on current opportunities and challenges with regards to use of social media across the entire emergency management spectrum. To view the report and its resources you can click to http://wiki.crisiscommons.org/wiki/SMEM_Initiative or the below links:

Social Media in Emergency Management Camp: Transforming the Response Enterprise Report: http://scr.bi/uy5H0w
SMEM Report Factsheet: http://scr.bi/ts1fFP
SMEM Report Annex B: Virtual Operations Support Group/Teamhttp://scr.bi/VOSGTConcept
SMEM Report Annex C: Social Media in Emergency Management: the Canadian experiencehttp://scr.bi/SMEMCanada

About the SMEM Initiative

The Social Media in Emergency Management Initiative “SMEM” is an informal network of emergency management practitioners who seek to explore best practices and bridge social media in emergency management. SMEM seeks to build a common understanding and “experience exchange” to support the use and inclusion of social media, public data and technology innovation to support mission objectives of emergency management to prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against disaster. To join the conversation, visit the #SMEM hash tag and be sure to visit the #SMEMchat each Friday at 12:30PM EST where there is a live discussion. Check out news and archive topics at at www.sm4em.org and wiki.crisiscommons.org and be sure to join the practitioner email group at http://groups.google.com/group/smem.

Tools – #SocialMedia and #Mobile Tools for Mass Gatherings

Administrator — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:52:42 +0000

UPDATE 20111113
NASA GeoCam project – http://disastercam.blogspot.com/

Great tools for deciphering the torrent of #Twitter data -

http://gnip.com

http://www.geochirp.com/

http://trendsmap.com/

http://www.sat2twitter.com/

And a great UN effort to share pictures and their locations -

http://www.ansur.no/

& http://www.geo-pictures.eu/

Compelling TEDx talk by UK journalist Paul Lewis ( ) re: the citizen reporting and transparency paradigm shift which Twitter and allied social media tools have ushered-in -

…an equally focused and vivid 3 minute lightning talk by ESRI re: Social Media for Emergency Management #SMEM

And with great allusions to AirWolf and Yoda, a concise ‘state of the social mapping union’ TEDx Silicon Valley tour de force by one of the preeminent #SMEM and #CrisisMappers visionaries, Patrick Meier

Patrick Meier speaks at TEDx Silicon Valley 2011 from TEDx Silicon Valley on Vimeo.

Free ArcGIS.com resource for understanding the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – http://www.london2012.com

View Larger Map

Lastly, interesting beta Silverlight map tool to note Twitter geo patterns and timeline -

http://apps.arcgis.com/hosted/OnePane/twittertimeline/index.html

Resources – UN GAID and Carnegie Mellon Disaster Initiative Silicon Valley

Administrator — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:42:51 +0000

UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development
http://www.un-gaid.org/

Visit Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Watch live streaming video from gaid at livestream.com

Carnegie Mellon University Disaster Management Initiative in the Silicon Valley of California USA
http://www.cmu.edu/silicon-valley/dmi/

Resources – Hurricane #Irene for East Coast, NYC, DC. etc.

Administrator — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:01:14 +0000

The New York City Office of Emergency Management has released a Crowdmap with the help of the Ushahidi team:

http://nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/nycsevereweather/weather_home.shtml

To submit a formal service request to NYC, use 311. For emergency assistance, call 911. For more information about how the City is responding to the storm, visit:
http://www.nyc.gov/severeweather

Via Direct Relief International -
https://maps.directrelief.org/USA/hpp/index.html

Information links:
National Weather Service http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
New York City hurricane evacuation zone maps http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/get_prepared/prepared_partnerstoolkit.shtml
US Chamber Business and Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) Help Desk https://www.facebook.com/pages/Disaster-Help-Desk-US-Chamber-BCLC/256578991038630
Red Cross live open shelter information at http://app.redcross.org/nss-app/.

Available as an app for the iphone/ipad/ipod at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/american-red-cross-shelter/id419258261?mt=8

State and local government links:

New York City OEM http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/home/home.shtml
North Carolina Division of Emergency Management http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/index2.cfm?a=000003,000010,002050,002063
Virginia Dept. of Emergency Management http://www.vaemergency.com/
Maryland Emergency Management Agency http://www.mema.state.md.us/MEMA2/index.html
New Jersey OEM http://www.ready.nj.gov/
New York State OEM http://www.dhses.ny.gov/

Info4Disasters.org launched it’s new website this past week. A virtual EOC for Hurricane Irene was created last night for sharing information with the public & colleagues.

http://info4disasters.org/hurricane-eoc/irene/

Ushahidi instance

http://irene.tethr.org

Google Earth Outreach http://earth.google.com/outreach
Google Crisis Response, Google.org http://www.google.org

USNG GeoPDF download Flex viewer up and running at

http://greatriver.deltastate.edu/IreneUSNG/index.html

access the download folder at
http://mississippi.deltastate.edu/data/USNG_Atlases

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/surge_images.asp

Army Corps of Engineers Districts have done Hurricane Storm Surge data/maps for their Districts.
Examples are:

http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/nhp/HES/WashingtonDCandNOVA/Current2009StormSurgeMapping/Report/DC&NOVA-StormSurgeMap-Main.pdf

http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/nhp/HES/MD/MarylandWesternShore/Current2006HES/PDFsofInundationMaps/Anne_Arundel_County-StormSurgeMap.pdf