{"id":18494,"date":"2020-03-16T18:54:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T18:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=18494&post_type=story"},"modified":"2024-08-16T14:06:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T14:06:02","slug":"mapping-the-world","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/mapping-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
Spring 2020 | By Laura J. Cole<\/em><\/p>\n [lead]What would become the largest and most complex\u00a0outbreak of the Ebola virus to date began in December\u00a02013 with an 18-month-old boy. The outbreak would\u00a0last for more than two and a half years, with more than 28,600\u00a0cases reported across West Africa and more than 11,325 deaths.[\/lead]<\/p>\n As a then-geographic information systems\u00a0(GIS) analyst at the Red Cross, Drishtie\u00a0Patel \u201908 \u201912MNM<\/strong> was responsible for\u00a0providing relief workers on the ground with\u00a0accurate geographic data, so they could locate\u00a0and assist people even in the most rural parts\u00a0of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n She knew one problem would be the same\u00a0as it had been for the many relief efforts she\u2019d\u00a0been a part of up to that point: Uncharted\u00a0roads, bridges and physical structures would\u00a0make finding those who were infected\u00a0difficult, especially as they had a tendency to\u00a0flee their villages and move to more remote\u00a0locations out of shame.<\/p>\n \u201cOutside of the cities, these countries are\u00a0mostly forest,\u201d Patel says. \u201cAs people moved\u00a0farther away, we couldn\u2019t track them. There\u00a0was no easy way to contain the movement\u00a0of people in one area, so the disease spread\u00a0farther.\u201d<\/p>\n This left patients unnecessarily vulnerable\u00a0and at risk. The other problem: While that\u00a0missing information was being collected,\u00a0the outbreak was gaining traction, costing\u00a0valuable time.<\/p>\n \u201cThousands of towns and cities are invisible\u00a0on the world map,\u201d Patel wrote in an article\u00a0during the outbreak. \u201cThis makes it difficult\u00a0for disaster responders to come to residents\u2019\u00a0aid when an earthquake, landslide or typhoon\u00a0strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n Though catastrophic, the Ebola outbreak\u00a0was only one out of the more than 60,000\u00a0disasters the Red Cross responds to each year.\u00a0That\u2019s a lot of information just waiting to be\u00a0collected that could mean life or death for\u00a0hundreds of thousands of people.<\/p>\n Realizing it would be helpful to have\u00a0data-rich maps prior to a disaster, Patel\u00a0became part of a team that set out to pre-map\u00a0areas in countries that often receive the least\u00a0resources. Today, she\u2019s expediting that process\u00a0as part of a Facebook team that uses artificial\u00a0intelligence to improve the detail, quality and\u00a0accuracy of maps in less time.<\/p>\n Many of us take maps for granted. Whether\u00a0lost in a city or on a nature trail or heading\u00a0to a new place for the first time, we turn\u00a0to our phones. In the palm of our hands\u00a0is any number of web mapping services,\u00a0such as Google Maps, ready to help us find\u00a0our way.<\/p>\n But if you\u2019ve ever traveled to a remote\u00a0location and found yourself sans internet\u00a0or staring at a giant swatch of beige or green\u00a0with only a single blue dot to guide you, you\u2019ve\u00a0probably realized how important maps are.<\/p>\n \u201cMaps are incredibly powerful and highly\u00a0visual,\u201d says Timothy Hawthorne, 麻豆原创\u00a0associate professor of GIS. \u201cThey are able to\u00a0share information quickly to show a challenge\u00a0or opportunity and inform decisions across\u00a0organizations, so people in need get resources\u00a0in a more timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting resources to people in need relies\u00a0on disaster-relief mapping, or humanitarian\u00a0mapping. An attempt to ensure communities\u00a0in need get help during political crises,\u00a0epidemics and natural disasters, humanitarian\u00a0mapping has been around for decades. But\u00a0its latest iteration started in 2004, after\u00a0the Boxing Day tsunami hit 13 countries\u00a0in Southeast Asia and killed more than\u00a0230,000 people.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took weeks for actual maps of any value\u00a0to be made [available] for people,\u201d says Dale\u00a0Kunce, who previously led the international\u00a0data and maps team at the American Red\u00a0Cross. \u201cThere\u2019s this very famous story of a\u00a0gentleman deploying with a map that was\u00a050 years old, the best map he had for Banda\u00a0Aceh, Indonesia [where the 9.1 magnitude\u00a0earthquake that set off the tsunami hit].\u00a0Banda Aceh, Indonesia, does not look like that\u00a0anymore, nor had it in the last 20 years before\u00a0the tsunami happened and 30-foot waves\u00a0rolled over everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, there is a global network of volunteers who come together online and on the ground after a disaster strikes to compile maps that help responders reach those in need. These volunteers use an open-source web platform called OpenStreetMap<\/a> (OSM), which was founded in 2004.<\/p>\n \u201cOSM is commonly referred to as the\u00a0\u2018Wikipedia for maps,\u2019 \u201d says Patel. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0essentially a crowdsourced mapping project\u00a0that brings together mappers from around the\u00a0globe to collaboratively build and maintain a\u00a0free editable map of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n While organizations such as the\u00a0Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team\u00a0(HOT) specialize in responding to\u00a0international humanitarian crises by\u00a0connecting OSM volunteers to help\u00a0impacted areas remotely, it still takes time\u00a0to coordinate, map and clean the data before\u00a0it can be used. Responders were getting\u00a0better information but losing valuable time.\u00a0Relief organizations such as the American\u00a0Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders\u00a0realized a need to do more.<\/p>\n Thus was born Missing Maps, a\u00a0partnership between the American Red\u00a0Cross, the British Red Cross, Doctors\u00a0Without Borders and HOT to map the most\u00a0vulnerable areas in the developing world\u00a0before disasters occur. Here\u2019s how it works:\u00a0Remote volunteers from anywhere on the\u00a0planet trace roads and buildings using\u00a0satellite imagery into OSM. Community\u00a0volunteers on the ground confirm data\u00a0and add local details, such as street names,\u00a0road conditions and building types. And\u00a0humanitarian organizations use the\u00a0collected data to plan for crisis responses.<\/p>\n [photo id=”19072″ title=”Mapping-World-Drishtie-Mapping-1200px” alt=”” position=”center” width=”100%”]Drishtie Patel \u201908 \u201912MNM (center) works with locals to map their community in a remote area of Rwanda, close to the Burundi border. \u201cCyahinda is a region that is prone to landslides, mosquito-borne illnesses, and is going through a food shortage \u2014 but its people aren\u2019t even visible to most of the globe,\u201d she says.[\/photo]<\/p>\n Missing Maps partners working with\u00a0OSM completely changed how relief\u00a0organizations respond.<\/p>\n \u201cMissing Maps started with disaster\u00a0response, but now it\u2019s pretty much used\u00a0for the entire planning phase \u2014 everything\u00a0from preplanning to post-planning,\u201d says\u00a0Patel, who was one of the founding members\u00a0of the Missing Maps project at the American\u00a0Red Cross.<\/p>\n One example shows how the project helped prove the impact building materials have on health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data showed a strong correlation to a separate health project, and the team involved realized all of the people who lived in temporary mud houses were having health issues, such as asthma,\u201d says Patel. \u201cThe problem was actually the infrastructure of the houses, and that correlation wouldn\u2019t have happened if it wasn\u2019t made available visually. As a result, another service was created to help rebuild permanent structures made of brick, which resulted in drastic health improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n Patel never planned on being a cartographer.<\/p>\n There are people who are self-proclaimed\u00a0\u201cmapaholics.\u201d They talk about things like\u00a0Mappy Hours and Mapternoons \u2014 where\u00a0humanitarian-driven volunteers contribute\u00a0a significant amount of time to map entire\u00a0countries with other community-focused\u00a0individuals.<\/p>\n But for Patel, mapping is simply an\u00a0offshoot of her real calling: to help people\u00a0in need.<\/p>\n She grew up in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe in a middle-class family, where she acknowledges she had a comfortable, somewhat privileged upbringing. But around her, chaos started to unfurl just as she was entering her teenage years. Upheavals began in the African nation in 1999 after the World Bank and IMF suspended aid. What followed were years of food shortages, economic hardship and political unrest.<\/p>\n \u201cZimbabwe was a pretty amazing country\u00a0to grow up in until I hit my teens,\u201d says\u00a0Patel. \u201cIt just became [constant chaos] \u2014\u00a0shortage of gas, standing in lines for basic\u00a0things and no power most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n [callout background=”#62BC48″ content_align=”left” affix=”false” css_class=””]<\/p>\n [blockquote source=”Drishtie Patel \u201908 \u201912MNM” cite=”” color=”#ffffff” css_class=””]\u201cWe\u2019ve now processed the whole world \u2014 every single road \u2014 using AI. We\u2019ve open-sourced that entire data set, and we keep updating it. This would have taken decades to do manually.\u201d[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n [\/callout]<\/p>\n In times of plenty, the governments\u00a0of many countries are able to provide\u00a0assistance to their people. In times of need,\u00a0few can. In these times, people turn to\u00a0nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),\u00a0such as the Red Cross, to help them survive.<\/p>\n Patel knew then she wanted to work with\u00a0the helpers, even volunteering with the Red\u00a0Cross during high school.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ve always just been drawn to a\u00a0nonprofit mission,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of times\u00a0it\u2019s the NGOs who end up coming in on the\u00a0ground to provide support, and they make\u00a0a real difference. That\u2019s when things get\u00a0better, whether it\u2019s for refugee movements,\u00a0a health outbreak or a political crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n When the situation in Zimbabwe became\u00a0dangerous, Patel\u2019s family applied for the\u00a0U.S. green card lottery and won a few years\u00a0later. Patel, who was in high school at the\u00a0time, didn\u2019t want to move to the United\u00a0States. Like many teenagers, she didn\u2019t\u00a0want to leave behind her extended family,\u00a0friends and everything she knew. But that\u00a0move would eventually lead her to 麻豆原创\u00a0\u2014 where she majored in organizational\u00a0communication and earned a master\u2019s in\u00a0nonprofit management<\/a> and a graduate\u00a0certificate in emergency management and\u00a0homeland security<\/a> \u2014 and help Patel find\u00a0her niche.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nice thing about the nonprofit\u00a0program was the focus on service-learning\u00a0and practical experience rather than only\u00a0the theoretical stuff,\u201d she says. \u201cEvery single\u00a0class, we worked with an NGO. By the time\u00a0I was hired by the Red Cross, I had gotten a\u00a0lot of the hands-on experience I needed to\u00a0jump in and make an immediate impact. I\u00a0was already familiar with certain processes\u00a0and fundamental skills in NGOs, such as\u00a0fundraising and writing grant proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n Her first job at the Red Cross was when\u00a0mapping became a big part of how she\u00a0would fulfill her goal of helping others.\u00a0Her team was responsible for collecting\u00a0whatever public information people on\u00a0the ground needed, such as population\u00a0estimates, road data, number of buildings\u00a0and nearby villages.<\/p>\n \u201cI really liked that,\u201d she says, \u201cand I never\u00a0thought mapping would be a big part of that.\u00a0Honestly, it was just something I learned on\u00a0the job. I saw a gap and was lucky enough\u00a0to be in the right place at the right time\u00a0with the right people to be able to push it\u00a0through.\u201d<\/p>\n That luck led her not only to the Missing\u00a0Maps project that she helped start at the\u00a0Red Cross, but also to her current position\u00a0at Facebook, where she\u2019s using machine\u00a0learning technology to map the world\u00a0even faster.<\/p>\n