by Matthew Cruse, Independent Technology Consultant
Famines, food emergencies and natural disasters and their corresponding human responses are often accompanied by confusion and misinformation. Increasingly, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is able to assist in allaying the confusion and presenting a more comprehensive way of sorting through the information and misinformation. First responders are thrust into new and chaotic situations, often with little information on who needs what and when. Having a common and accessible GIS system that is linked to coordination activities helps to temper this chaos.
GIS is a visualization of data that allows decision makers to see information in a new way. Popular GIS applications include Google Maps, Bing Maps and Open Street Maps. Professional GIS applications, such as ArcGIS and other commercial products, offer more advanced functionalities that are used in more complex and long-standing projects. These are generally more difficult to learn and require a fairly significant upfront cost, both financially and in personnel time.
In situations that require rapid responses such as food emergencies and natural disasters, the most important question is usually what is getting where and delivered by whom. GIS is able to assist in answering those questions by helping first responders and stakeholders to better coordinate activities. During the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, emergency rations were being flown into Port-a-Prince by the planeload. However, distribution remained a daunting task. While it could not assist with the actual logistical nature of ration distribution, online and mobile GIS platforms allowed distribution networks to visually display areas that had received/not received rations as well as areas and neighborhoods that remained in critical need of humanitarian assistance.
Longer-term food crisis settings can also benefit from GIS visualization. As an example, proximity mapping is a common feature that allows users to see certain demographic attributes within a chosen diameter or perimeter of a focal point. That point could be a military checkpoint or a humanitarian food distribution center. This type of mapping can assist stakeholders in two ways:
- It provides a more effective reporting mechanism than other means of dialogue. You can report that a certain number of distribution centers shoud be within certain areas; or you can visualize it and show population densities and advocate making decisions based on those images.
- It also provides an effective means of formulating strategy.
When users are able to visualize activities and expected outputs on top of areas that have demonstrated need, it becomes a powerful method of determining the relative value of activity in geographic means.
Food scarcity is a fairly new and untapped area of development where GIS can, and will, add value. Depending on the complexity of the reporting technology available, organizations can visualize agricultural scarcity down to the most granular level of a single point of latitude and longitude. This information can then be combined with projected program results or strategic goals to see if deliverables are going to the populations most in need. Even when the level of granularity is at a district/sub-state level, programs can still benefit from GIS visualization. Decision makers are increasingly asking answers that GIS applications can assist in answering.
While GIS applications will never directly solve the problems that development organizations are seeking to answer, whether short- or long-term, they can play a role in making decision makers smarter. Knowing what is needed where and who should be working where is a powerful asset in decision-making. Similarly, knowing what should be where and when is a powerful asset in planning future operations. Both a backward- and forward-looking tool will likely prove invaluable to development organizations of all stripes and sizes.
Some examples of resources/organizations involved in humanitarian/development GIS work (far from a conclusive list):
- ESRI
- Columbia University CIESEN
- Google Crisis Map/Person Finder
- Digiglobe
- Crisis Mappers Network (volunteer based)
- TomNod
- World Bank – Mapping for Results
