Tapping into Local Knowledge in Times of Disaster

Photo Credit: iRevolution

The World Bank and Google have announced a collaborative agreement to use a free, web-based mapping tool called Google Map Maker that enables citizens to directly participate in the creation of maps by contributing their local knowledge.

The agreement is aimed at improving disaster preparedness and development efforts in countries around the world. Under the agreement, the World Bank will act as a conduit to make Google Map Maker source data, more widely and easily available to government organizations in the event of major disasters, and also for improved planning, management, and monitoring of public services provision.

The Importance of Local Knowledge

The most innovative component of this agreement, I believe, is the effort to blend scientific and local knowledge to solve local solutions. The need for integrating modern technology and indigenous knowledge into disaster management and prevention has long been overdue. While the technical capability of the new ICTs is huge, it also requires the mobilization of human resources, especially locally available human resources in tackling such disasters.

Just as the expertise of local citizens are being utilized to project their views in urban centers/cities through data-mapping, local knowledge, which is context specific, could be used to interpret the natural landscape of past natural disasters and using these indicators to help in forecasting future disasters. Studies have shown that local knowledge practices are cost effective, and incorporating them into scientific projects could help build local trust of the people. The use of local knowledge such as weather predictions, smells, sounds, cloud color, direction and types of wind, appearance and movements of insects, etc. could be tapped into, in disaster prone communities to help develop sustainable measures in interpreting early warning signals of natural disasters.

Google Map Maker

The Google Map Maker data includes detailed maps of more than 150 countries and regions, and identifies locations like schools, hospitals, roads, settlements and water points that are critical for relief workers to know about in times of crisis. The data will also be useful for planning purposes, as governments and their development partners can use the information to monitor public services, infrastructure and development projects; make them more transparent for NGOs, researchers, and individual citizens; and more effectively identify areas that might be in need of assistance before a disaster strikes.

The World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) will manage the World Bank’s involvement in the collaboration, building on previous joint mapping efforts. For example in April 2011, members of the Southern Sudanese Diaspora participated in a series of community mapping events organized by World Bank and Google to create comprehensive maps of schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure in this new country via Map Maker technology.

Google has enjoyed a strong relationship with World Bank for many years. As indicated by the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region Obiageli Ezekwesili, “Today’s technology can empower civil society, including the diaspora, to collaborate and support the development process. This collaboration is about shifting the emphasis from organizations to people, and empowering them to solve their own problems and develop their own solutions using maps.”

Read more on the agreement and possible partnership and collaborations with the World Bank offices.

January 23, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Google Creating a Map of Africa’s Broadband Cables

Google’s Sub-Saharan Africa office is funding a project by Steve Song to create a comprehensive map of all terrestrial broadband fibre-optic cables in Africa. Using crowdsourcing methods and contacts within the ICT4D space, Song is spearheading an effort to convince governments and telecoms that it is in their own interests to make public where they have laid terrestrial broadband cables. The project is named AfTerFibre (Africa’s Terrestrial Fibres).

AFterFibre, which started in June, is currently building its network of contacts, engaging governments and telecoms in conversation regarding the location of their cables. In an effort to be as public and open as possible, Song has organized a public google group to collect the information. As the group makes agreements and collects data, they will incrementally publish an updated map of Africa’s terrestrial cables, hopefully one about every two months. Then, next summer, they hope to publish the completed map.

After creating the preeminent map of the undersea cables surrounding Africa last year, the next logical step was to make a map of Africa’s terrestrial fiber, explains Song. “The undersea map has inspired a lot fiber infrastructure construction. It gave people a sense that there is something to build to.”

The terrestrial cables map hopes to extend that vision to people in rural areas around Africa. Song imagines the mayor of a secondary or tertiary town in Botswana or Rwanda who sees the map and says, “we are only 100 km away from a terrestrial fiber. Why don’t we make our city the broadband hub in the region and transform our economy with this high speed fiber-optic connection?”

Photo: Steve Song at ManyPossibilities.net

“We hope that the map is more than just a reference tool, but a sign of inspiration. When you see all the connectivity in the region, you can’t help but feel that something is about to happen,” Song said.

Presently, most operators in Africa are not publicly announcing the location of their cables, so people don’t know where they are. Song’s goal is to convince operators that they stand to benefit by releasing this information to the public, just as the operators arguably have after Song published the undersea cables map. Some operators have been skeptical about publishing the exact location of their cables, for fear of someone cutting them. Song assured the operators that the map will not be absolutely accurate, but simply accurate enough to spawn additional connectivity to previously unconnected areas. “So you won’t be able to locate the cables like you would locate a restaurant on your smart phone,” Song explains, but you will be able to locate the general area so that as a business or a local government you can make an educated estimate about how far you are to a connection.

The government of Kenya has been particularly resourceful in gathering the location their cables. The permanent secretary of the Ministry of ICT, Bitange Ndemo, committed his staff to gather and supply the information for the AfTerFibre project, effectively relieving Song from all of the logistical work. Ndemo’s commitment reflects Kenya’s recent move to make government data public and usable. Contrarily, in South Africa the process has been slower. Song contrasts the countries: “Everyone seems on the same page in Kenya. In universities, industries, and government there is a strong sense of ‘let’s transform Kenya and a strong sense of digital enterprise.’ Whereas in South Africa there is more finger pointing than creating a sense of common cause. In South Africa, we run the risk of losing information and the advantage that we started with.”

August 11, 2011/by actualize