Collecting Data

Quand résilience des villes rime avec épanouissement professionnel des jeunes

Jusque-là, les données urbanistiques étaient rares, souvent obsolètes et difficilement accessibles. Lorsque les étudiants congolais ont appris que le projet Villes ouvertes mobilisait les ressources locales pour pallier cette pénurie de données, en promouvant ainsi la production d’informations gratuites, accessibles et collaboratives, ils y ont vu une opportunité. Ces jeunes ont réalisé qu’ils pouvaient collecter des données inaccessibles autrement, les partager librement et les analyser afin d’améliorer la situation de leurs quartiers, et se sont investis avec ferveur et fierté dans ce défi.

Open Cities AI Challenge: Segmenting Buildings for Disaster Resilience

The Open Cities AI Challenge, put on by GFDRR with Azavea and DrivenData, recently concluded with over 1,100 participants, 2,100 submissions and $15,000 in total prizes awarded. Along two competition tracks, the Challenge produced global public goods — open-source data, code, research, and know-how — that will support mapping efforts for disaster resilience. This includes: Increasing… Read more »

Perspectives on Responsible AI for Disaster Risk Management

Machine learning (ML) can improve data applications in disaster risk management, especially when coupled with computer vision and geospatial technologies, by providing more accurate, faster, or lower-cost approaches to assessing risk. At the same time, we urgently need to develop a better understanding of the potential for negative or unintended consequences of their use. The… Read more »

Sustainability in OpenStreetMap

The white paper explores the many facets of OpenStreetMap (OSM) in development and the challenges of striving for “sustainability” in the wider mapping ecosystem – the paper also examines the factors that influence long term success of work involving OSM in a development context.

Uganda Open Mapping for Resilience Completes Ggaba Parish Pilot

The Uganda Open Mapping for Resilience project team have completed fieldwork in Ggaba Parish, gathering important information for the lakeside communities to highlight and analyze disaster risk. This follows up on the capacity development on open mapping for resilience methodology across Ugandan authorities. This OpenDRI initiative has seen residents and GIS professionals collaborating shoulder to… Read more »

Planning An Open Cities Mapping Project

This Open Cities guide documents lessons learned from work in South Asia, providing an overview of the design and implementation of a community mapping program. To keep this guide up-to-date and truly open source, the online version of the document is hosted on GitHub welcoming comments and contributions.

Comprendre les risques d’inondation à Niamey grâce à la cartographie open source, aux drones et à la modélisation

Pendant des millénaires, le fleuve Niger a été le poumon socioéconomique du Niger, mais aussi des pays voisins du bassin du Niger. Pourtant, même si cette imposante voie navigable permet à de nombreux Nigériens de se nourrir, s’approvisionner en eau, et gagner leur vie, elle présente également un grave risque d’inondation en Afrique de l’Ouest… Read more »

One Challenge, Many Challenges: Machine Learning for Mapping

OpenDRI is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week for the annual conference of Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G 2018). With over 1000 expected attendees, this large gathering of geospatial enthusiasts is a prime opportunity to learn and share about the latest technology in mapping. Part of the pre-conference program, Tuesday morning… Read more »

Open Cities Africa Kickoff 2018

The Open Cities Africa Kickoff hosted the largest gathering of teams in Open Cities history this summer in Kampala, Uganda. For a week in June, eleven Open Cities project teams represented by 55 delegates convened as a cohort to receive training in innovative, open, and participatory data collection and mapping processes to support management of… Read more »

Open Cities Africa

Creating open spatial data on the built and natural environment, developing tools to assist key stakeholders to utilize risk information, and supporting local capacity-building necessary for implementing urban resilience interventions.

A Drone’s Eye View: UAV applications for a resilient Seychelles

In the Seychelles, life straddles the coastline. The 94,000 residents depend upon the sea for sustenance. The country relies on a mere 400 hectares of agricultural land, increasingly at risk of climate-related events. Inspired by the experience of Zanzibar, a neighboring island state with similar challenges, the Seychelles is now embracing drones as a tool to collect low-cost, highly accurate aerial imagery for resilient development.

How Afghanistan uses GeoNode to build resilience

Very little information on hazards and risk was available in Afghanistan a few years ago. A team set out to produce information essential to disaster risk management. They developed innovations on top of a standard GeoNode for visualization & cost-benefit analysis, enabling Afghanistan’s planning to incorporate disaster considerations.

Niger

The PGRC-DU is developing state-of-the-art tools to identify flooding hot-spots and evaluate the added value of flood mitigation measures. These tools will lead to better knowledge of flood-exposed assets and people in the city of Niamey.

Addressing Flood Vulnerability in Niamey, Niger, West Africa

Authors: Dr. Ousmane Seidou is an associate professor of water resources engineering at the University of Ottawa, and an adjunct professor at the United Nations University, Centre for Water, Environmental and Health (UNU-INWEH). He is involved in research, teaching and capacity development activities related to water resources management, hydrological risk and adaptation to climate variability… Read more »

InaSAFE and OpenDRI at State of the Map Africa

In July 2017, the InaSAFE team had the opportunity to present another training course to DRR practitioners. The training integrates various disciplines, such as the creation and use of open data sets (in particular OpenStreetMap), fundamental GIS skills (through the use of QGIS) and skills in using InaSAFE. The course was presented in English and French at Makerere University in Kampala and was attended by thirty DRR practitioners from government agencies and universities in Niger, Madagascar, Comoros, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi and Uganda.

Building Mapping Expertise in Vietnam

Last month, during a day-long workshop at Can Tho University’s Dragon Institute, the OpenDRI team introduced OpenStreetMap (OSM) to students and to Can Tho city government officials. The session was kept informal, focusing on mapping familiar terrain: the university campus.

Mapping the Comoros Archipelago

The objective of the OpenDRI project in the Comoros is twofold: first, fill data gaps by building assets using OpenStreetMap (OSM) tools; and second, develop an online data-sharing platform to centralize and share risk data in the country.

Uganda

In Uganda, the World Bank is supporting the Government to develop improved access to drought risk related information and quicken the decision of scaling up disaster risk financing (DRF) mechanisms.

Zanzibar

The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ) seeks to address high vulnerability to disaster losses from cyclones, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis with the support of the World Bank Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI) and Southwest Indian Ocean Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (SWIO RAFI).

Satellites in Global Development

Satellites in Global Development is an exploratory overview of current and upcoming sources of data, processing pipelines and data products. The research was compiled by the World Bank Leadership, Learning, and Innovation (LLI) team.

Surveying Sri Lanka’s Gampaha District

The Gampaha District is an urban and agricultural district located on the Western coast of Sri Lanka just north of Colombo in the Attanagalu Oya River basin. This area is very prone to flooding with important human, material, and financial damages.

Sri Lanka

The Disaster Management Centre of Sri Lanka (DMC) has been working with OpenDRI to support evidence-based methods to better plan for, mitigate, and respond to natural disasters.

Nepal

The World Bank and GFDRR started working in partnership with the Government of Nepal in 2012. The aim was to better understand seismic risk in order to build resilience in the education and health infrastructure of Kathmandu Valley.

Dominica

A GeoNode deployment for sharing existing data launched in November 2012 and a full OpenDRI platform implementation took place in 2013.

Mozambique

Mozambique’s national disaster management agency, The Instituto Nacional de Gestão das Calamidades (INGC), in collaboration with the World Bank and the GFDRR, has developed a sustainable OpenDRI work plan currently under implementation.

Malawi

The Government of Malawi (GoM) with the support of the World Bank has been developing the Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI) with the aim of supporting evidence-based and innovative solutions to better plan, mitigate, and prepare for natural disasters and particularly for the damaging floods that occur yearly.

The Digital Divide: a challenge to overcome in tackling climate change

Try to imagine a world without the Internet.

Impossible, isn’t it?

Over the past 25 years, the Internet has become the nervous system of our society, interconnecting all the different parts of our everyday lives. Our social interactions, ways of doing business, traveling and countless other activities are supported and governed by this technology.

At this very moment, just over three billion people are connected to the Internet, 105 billion emails are being sent, two million blog posts have just been written (including this one) and YouTube has collected four billion views. These numbers give you a glimpse of the extent to which humanity is intimately and deeply dependent on this technology.

The digital revolution has changed the daily lives of billions of people. But what about the billions who have been left out of this technological revolution?

Harnessing the Power of the Crowd – Reflections Six Months after the Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal

Through the Open Data for Resilience project, The World Bank, GFDRR, and other partners are supporting efforts to map areas at risk before a disaster strikes.

•In the six months following the April 2015 earthquake, OpenStreetMap data for Nepal was accessed by more than 3,300 users using a GFDRR platform that tailored the data for response and recovery.

•Urban areas around the world, including cities in Indonesia, Philippines, Malawi and Bangladesh, are a major focus of mapping efforts.

Paying it forward in a digital age: A global community committed to a mapped world

​​When I first heard about OpenStreetMap (OSM) – the so called Wikipedia of maps, built by volunteers around the world – I was skeptical of its ability to scale, usability in decision making, and ultimate longevity among new ideas conceived in the digital age. Years later, having working on many disaster risk management initiatives across the globe, I can say that I am a passionate advocate for the power of this community. And I continue to be struck by the power of one small initiative like OSM that brings together people across cultures and countries to save lives. It is more than a technology or a dataset, it’s a global community of individuals committed to making a difference.

People may be surprised to find that the maps we take for granted in metropolitan areas of the developed world may be completely absent, vastly out of date, or pay-per-view in the developing world. Imagine an urban area without a transportation network, government agencies without access to the location of their assets (schools, health facilities, etc), or even a map without village names. This is the reality for many of the countries most vulnerable to disaster risk. Now, imagine this urban area facing an unprecedented crisis brought by flooding, an earthquake, a pandemic – think about the challenges of planning a response.

World Bank Using UAVs for Disaster Risk Reduction in Tanzania

An innovative World Bank team in Tanzania is exploring the use of UAVs for disaster risk reduction efforts. Spearheaded by colleague Edward Anderson, the team recently partnered with friends at Drone Adventures to capture very high-resolution images of flood-prone areas in the country’s capital. This imagery is now being used to generate Digital Terrain Models to develop more reliable flood-inundation models at… Read more »

Community Mapping For Flood Resilience Kick Off Workshop

The kick-off workshop was held on March 26th at the Buni Innovation Hub, at the Commission for Science and Technology. Panel: Innovating Urban Flooding Primer: Addressing the Urban Flood Challenge—Innovations and Opportunities Rekha Menon, Program Leader, World Bank Prof. Robert Kiunsi, Dean of the School of Real Estate Studies (SRES), Ardhi University Julia Letara, Town… Read more »

In Malawi, Citizens Get Involved as Innovative Technologies Help Them Better Understand and Manage Disaster Risks

Citizens recently participated in a mapping exercise to provide data for early flood preparation in Malawi’s vulnerable districts. Mapping is the next step in the launch of the open source geospatial data platform in Malawi, providing vital information on natural disasters to district departments. More community engagement results in a clearer understanding of risks and disaster preparedness.

4 Years On, Looking Back at OpenStreetMap Response to the Haiti Earthquake

In 2014, Robert Soden reflected on the progress The World Bank and GFDRR made by becoming involved in the world of crowd sourced mapping. Now with a fully fledged program that leads dozens of projects worldwide and a host of strong partnerships, it is powerful to step back into his article and see where we’ve been and where OpenDRI has the potential to go.

To Save Lives and Livelihoods, Start By Understanding Disaster Risk

In 1999, the state of Odisha, India, was hit by the most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, causing nearly 10,000 fatalities and US$5 billion in damages. For the next decade, the government of Odisha and partners worked to identify and mitigate cyclone risk. When the similarly intense Cyclone Phailin struck Odisha in October 2013, the region counted 99.6% fewer deaths.

We cannot prevent a monsoon or cyclone from striking ­­– and as population growth, urbanization, and climate change are on the rise, the frequency and impact of natural disasters will increase. But with innovation, collaboration and a better understanding of risk, we can build communities that are more resilient to natural hazards.

Open Cities in Kathmandu: Health Centers Critical Health Sector Infrastructure

As detailed in the context of Kathmandu, one aspect of the the Open Cities Project engagement is the collection of asset and exposure data in urban areas in order to create a robust asset inventory. The Open Cities Project collects data through open and participatory methods in partnership with local government agencies, universities, technical communities, and the private sector. Open Cities Kathmandu has to date mapped over 100,000 buildings and collected exposure data for 2256 educational and 350 health facilities within Kathmandu Valley.

Open Cities in Kathmandu: Educational Facilities Critical Educational Sector Infrastructure

As detailed in the context of Kathmandu, one aspect of the the Open Cities Project engagement is the collection of asset and exposure data in urban areas in order to create a robust asset inventory. The Open Cities Project collects data through open and participatory methods in partnership with local government agencies, universities, technical communities, and the private sector. Open Cities Kathmandu has to date mapped over 100,000 buildings and collected exposure data for 2256 educational and 350 health facilities within Kathmandu Valley.

Helping Build Resilient Communities

Following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, the Government of Indonesia began compiling a comprehensive approach to disaster risk management (DRM). The World Bank has helped through several small interventions, such as preparing the software program InaSafe and supporting the building of ‘safe’ schools, which have had wide-ranging impact and incorporate disaster risk management in overall development planning.

Building climate and disaster resilience through open data and innovation

Type: Meeting or Conference Organizer: Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the (GFDRR); World Bank, the (WB) Date: 20-21 Mar 2014 Location: United States of America (Washington D.C.) Venue: World Bank This two-day workshop will bring together key leaders from business, government, international development, academia and civil society to explore how we can work… Read more »

Insights in DRM – A Case for Open Data

Here is the debut publication of “Insights in DRM – A Practitioner’s Perspective on Disaster Risk Management in Latin America and the Caribbean”. The first issue, Open Data for Resilience (OpenDRI) in the Caribbean, focuses on the use of spatial data in decision making to reduce disaster risk.

The Little Data Book on Climate Change

When President Robert Zoellick launched the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative in April 2010, he said its purpose was to “open the treasure chest of the World Bank’s data and knowledge to every village, to everyone everywhere.” This small book and the much bigger open database behind it are part of this same goal.