
Organized every year by the University of Salzburg, the GI_Forum is a platform where technologist, universities and researchers are working to create a GIS society. It was was an opportunity to present the work done as GIS Unit of MSF-CH during the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
This year the Department of Geography of the University of Salzburg organized a special session Earth Observation for Humanitarian Organizations.
CartONG was participating to present the work done by the GIS Unit of MSF-CH with the technical support of CartONG during the first days of the Ebola outbreak in March 2014. The ICRC and Human Rights Watch were also presenting the added-value of the Satellite imagery for their operations and activities.
It was an opportunity to exchange and share experiences with researchers and others humanitarian organization on the use of the satellite imagery.
In parallel and thanks to some private funding and partner organizations such as MSF-Fr, the university is developing some operational tools using satellite imagery. We have seen how population are monitored by satellite imagery, or how water resources could be identified with Radar techniques.
Embedded in the AGIT 2015, it was also an opportunity to discover new companies which are developing new tools, especially based on OSM. The Map when you drive, a beta version from EB Dirigo, is a very good start and gives lot of thoughts for a humanitarian application, helping to support the road network in countries of operations where the mapping is still poor.
Together with our partner MSF-CH, we have also created a comprehensive poster presenting the GIS inside http://cartong.org/news/msf-case-study-gis-support-epidemic-operationsMSF's team. It is an illustration of the Case Study done last year. This poster has won the third place of the contest! We were also impressed by the number of companies and initiatives promoting UAVs for multiple sectors.