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.
Tag: South Asia
The Rise of Local Mapping Communities
In the past few years, there has been a meteoric rise of locally organized OpenStreetMap communities in developing countries working to improve the map in service of sustainable development activities.
How can Bangladesh increase its resilience to disasters through data sharing?
Schools across Bangladesh are highly vulnerable to floods, cyclones, and earthquakes. How can the country mitigate and respond to the risks of these natural hazards? By using the GeoDASH platform – a geospatial data sharing platform – the Directorate of Primary Education of Bangladesh has assessed 35,000 schools with respect to the type of infrastructure, water… Read more »
Promoting Awareness of OpenStreetMap in Sri Lanka
To date, OpenDRI has engaged effectively with the public sector pushing for adoption of OSM. However, there is still a major gap in engagement with local businesses and tech start-ups that would expand and deepen OSM use and knowledge.
What can you do with a high-resolution population map?
Population density is one of the most important statistics for development efforts across many sectors, and since early 2016 the World Bank has been collaborating with Facebook on evaluating a new source of high-resolution population data that sheds light on previously unmapped populations.
Sri Lanka OpenDRI team finishes exposure mapping in Gampaha District’s Attanagalu Oya river basin
After almost a year of data collection the OpenDRI Sri Lanka team has finished mapping the exposure to flooding of every building in the Gampaha District’s Attanagalu Oya river basin.
Code for Resilience Problem Statement Workshop
In June of 2016 the OpenDRI Sri Lanka team held a Code for Resilience problem statement workshop at the Disaster Management Center of Sri Lanka with more than 25 representatives from government, media and the private sector in Sri Lanka.
Open Data for Resilience Initiative will see you at Understanding Risk 2016!
The OpenDRI team is super excited about UR2016 in Venice! The themes of open data, community participation in risk assessment, and improving risk communications are all hot topics at this event.
Community Mapping Factsheet
The Community Mapping Factsheet is a glimpse into the OpenDRI efforts to include people who are exposed to hazards in the data creation process.
Sharing Data Factsheet
The Sharing Data Factsheet takes a brief look at how OpenDRI works with Open Data Platforms.
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.
Upcoming Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre Fellowship and RiskInfo Launch
In partnership with the Open Data for Resilience Initiative, Code for Resilience awards qualified local applicants three month fellowships to work together on code-based projects that can benefit disaster management in Sri Lanka.
Open Cities Sri Lanka Expands From Batticaloa City to Attanagalu Oya River Basin
By Robert Banick In years past, OpenDRI in Sri Lanka focused primarily on the Open Cities project, introducing government, students and local communities in the eastern city of Batticaloa to free and open source mapping tools. We did this so they could both map their own communities and help government disaster managers to capture risk… Read more »
The experience of Mexico’s Fonden in catastrophe bonds, lessons for Asia
New Asian Development Bank blogpost discusses how disaster related data is a vital part of risk management and shares what lessons countries in Asia can learn from Mexico’s experience with Fonden.
Rapid, Climate-Informed Development Needed to Keep Climate Change from Pushing More than 100 Million People into Poverty by 2030
“A new World Bank report shows that climate change is an acute threat to poorer people across the world, with the power to push more than 100 million people back into poverty over the next fifteen years. And the poorest regions of the world – Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – will be hit the hardest.”
More voices mean smarter cities
Creating mechanisms for participation in urban planning can be as traditional as institutionalizing town meetings on zoning issues or as innovative as deploying digital platforms for community mapping. For instance, a number of initiatives, such as the Open Cities Project, illustrate the ways in which citizens can help contribute information to the policymaking process.
Open Cities draws on inputs from a range of groups to “create usable information through community mapping techniques, to build applications and tools that inform decision making, and to develop the networks of trust and social capital necessary for these efforts to become sustainable.” The project informs World Bank investment planning on addressing urban challenges and disaster risk in pilot cities in South Asia.
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.
Can Mapping Help Increase Disaster Resilience?
According to Marc Forni of The World Bank, they can. Find out how the Open Cities project became a key platform for building resilience in this blog post from November 2014.
New Field Guide Explores Open Data Innovations in Disaster Risk and Resilience
From Indonesia to Nepal, Haiti to Malawai, community members armed with smartphones and GPS systems are contributing to some of the most extensive and versatile maps ever created, helping inform policy and better prepare their communities for disaster risk.
Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI): Overview
The goal of this Overview Report, published in May 2013, is to communicate the vision, approach and impact of the Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI).