Lots goign on in my life right now… my brain is truly swirling. I was procrastinating today to get my mind off things when I found an interesting albeit very indirect way to help the phillipines rebuild from the terrible typhoon strike they just had.

A group of us at work monitor a community called ‘Understanding Risk’. We’re interested in seeing how IT can’t help manage and mitigate RISK. This appeal came across that community today..   The basic idea is to help crowd source the maps of soem of the more remote rural areas to help get supplies  in there.   . Here’s the note we got.

 

Typhoon Yolanda has had a devastating impact on the Philippines. Thousands are feared dead and many more have been affected by one of the strongest storms on record. The work required to respond and recover from this event will be massive.
One way that you can help is by contributing to OpenStreetMap (OSM). OSM is a free and open map of the world that everyone can access and contribute to. Right now, hundreds of volunteers from all over the world are working together to digitize roads, buildings, and other features from satellite imagery made freely available by Microsoft and the US State Department’s Humanitarian Information Unit. With the coordination of our partners at the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, the geographic information they are creating is already being used by the Red Cross, the United Nations and other responding organizations working in the Philippines. There is more work to be done and the Understanding Risk Community is uniquely positioned to help.
To get started, you can:
– Visit the project coordination page for more information: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Typhoon_Haiyan
– Login to OSM Tasking Manager (OpenStreetMap account required) and click on a task to contribute:  http://tasks.hotosm.org/
-If you have any questions or want to learn more you can join the mailing list of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
– If you are in DC and want to help the Philippines Typhoon response, contribute to @OpenStreetMap at @CrisisCamp this Saturday – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crisiscamp-philippines-washington-dc-tickets-9289145083

 

It’s pretty easy to sign up. first go to http://www.openstreetmap.org

and sign up for an account.. you have to click on the email they send you to get started…    then go to the link above that lists the tasks that need doing http://tasks.hotosm.org/ , pic a task, then start editing,

You start by choosing an editor….. I picked ‘potlatch’, the second choice..

They suggested an easier entry level editor called ‘ID’.. which you find on the ‘Edit’ menu… I took a short tutorial and was editing in 3 min ..

I only did a little tonight.. but plan to do more during phone calls tomorrow..

I know it’s not much.. but at least its something we can do to help get help there..

nite all nite sam

-me