Learn about MapAction missions using Google Earth
UPDATE: new Google Earth file updated in design and data. Anyone with Google Earth installed on their computer can now click here to view all MapAction's disaster relief and capacity buiilding field missions since 2003. Each icon has details of the deployment and a direct link to the maps produced during the mission.
Google Earth is becoming a popular with humanitarian organisations as a way to share spatial information about the emergencies in which they are working. The software has the advantages of being free to use, easy to learn and is a powerful way to view spatial data. A MapAction briefing paper on the applications in the humanitarian sector is available for download here.
Although Google Earth is generally used in online mode, it is also possible to use it offline in situations where no internet connection exists, provided the base images for the relevant areas of interest have been 'cached' into memory. This means it is suitable for use by humanitarian organisations in the field as well as at headquarters.
Data is exchanged between Google Earth users in KML and KMZ data formats. Coordinates of places and routes collected using GPS can easily be turned into KML/KMZ files. Existing maps can be then be overlaid, as can photographs and links to other data.
For example, a humanitarian needs assessment covering a wide area could easily be linked to a KMZ file to display the relevant data for various assessment points visited. Or, a KML file containing the locations of planned IDP camps can quickly be shared with relief agencies who can then combine it with their own data to produce, for example, a map showing planned camp locations and surveyed water resources.
Nigel Woof, MapAction's Operations Director, commented: "We're now regularly providing training to our partner agencies and NGOs who want to use Google Earth. And the data collated by own own teams in humanitarian emergencies is being requested as Google Earth-readable files, alongside the conventional maps we produce. Our job in the field is increasingly not just about map making, it's about managing spatial data in a range of new ways that create a shared operational picture across all relief agencies."
MapAction is participating Google Earth's Outreach initiative which assists not-for-profit organisations to use Google Earth and Google Maps technology as a platform for sharing spatial data.