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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
When the Land Tells a Story
Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
for Landscape Monitoring and Humanitarian Relief
Innovations Case Discussion: Pingree Easement
The Pingree forest stewards devised a scheme to monitor landscape changes over
their entire jurisdiction using three key technologies: geographic information sys-
Systeme (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and global positioning systems (GPS). The nov-
elty in the case lies neither in the technology nor the application, but rather in the
management setting where the innovation took place.
As Jim Levitt wrote, the size of the easement, the “largest conservation ease-
ment project ever realized in the course of American history,” carried with it the
significant challenge of tracking landscape changes due to “human population
pressures and attendant disruptive environmental impacts” while wisely investing
monetary resources in these technologies and human resources. As is true with
national parks, designating lands for protection and developing a set of permissi-
ble uses is only the start; managers must then find the resources to monitor and
enforce those uses. With a finite, albeit robust, budget and personnel who could
not always be present, the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) distributed
a call for proposals to experts in the field of landscape monitoring.
Each group that replied to NEFF employed some aspect of GIS/RS in its plan
to monitor and track changes to the landscape of the Pingree forest. Given the
Randall B. Kemp is a doctoral student in Information Science and a research assistant
with the Marc Lindenberg Center for Humanitarian Action, International
Development, and Global Citizenship, both at the University of Washington. Er
received an MA in Information and Library Studies from the University of Michigan
and an MA in Christian Studies from Denver Seminary.
Sanjeev Khagram is an Associate Professor and Director of the Marc Lindenberg
Center for Humanitarian Action, International Development and Global Citizenship
at the Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. He has published
widely including “Dams and Development,” (Cornell Press, 2004) Und “Future
Architectures of Global Governance: A Transnational Perspective/Prospective,” (In
Global Governance, 2006). Khagram was previously on the faculty at the Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard Universität. Khagram holds a Ph.D. in political sci-
ence from Stanford University.
© 2006 Tagore LLC
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When the Land Tells a Story
challenging circumstances of the situation, traditional methods of easement mon-
itoring were impossible: “an individual forester riding around a particular piece of
property in a truck would not be economically or physically feasible.” The forest
stewards needed to seriously consider an approach that emphasized technology. In
the end, the proposal that got NEFF’s attention and approval was one submitted
by an academic team including both researchers and students.
The final monitoring protocol, which took shape after the contract was award-
Hrsg, was built around a multi-scale approach to observation and analysis. Das ist,
observation occurred at three levels: satellite images, aerial photographs, und weiter-
the-ground inspections. Each mechanism provided data on the landscape at a dif-
ferent scope and level of detail. In conjunction with the easement agreements, Die
monitoring techniques would support the stewards in tracking landscape changes
to an agreed-upon baseline; they could then feed these data into the enforcement
mechanisms approved in the easement contract in order to ensure compliance. In
NEFF’s estimation, the technological solution provided the most cost-effective and
practical methods to meet the project’s requirements for landscape monitoring.
The case study itself characterizes remote sensing as a technology “used for
more than a decade to conduct surveys of forest conditions around the world” and
the algorithms run on images that are supported by “several decades of research.”
It is true that products derived from satellite technology and the analytical tools to
assess these products have been around for some time. A variety of users, inkl-
ing the military, private companies, and academic researchers, rely on remote sens-
ing to improve their analysis, and thus their decision making and profits.
When the NEFF team evaluated the monitoring requirements of the Pingree
forest it understood the need for a technical solution. Since landscape monitoring
was the primary need, remote sensing and GIS fit the bill precisely; other technolo-
gies, with more impressive functionality, might have had more appeal, but would
have been less applicable. In selecting the level of tool for the task at hand, NEFF
chose to leverage an existing tool rather than invent a new technology at a signifi-
cant financial cost. Zusamenfassend, Dann, the technology itself was not innovative, gegeben
its long prior use and strengths in monitoring landscape change.
The governance of this enormous easement demanded a fresh look at tech-
niques and protocols to uphold the spirit and letter of the contract signed by land
owners, land managers, and land stewards. The sheer challenge of governing and
monitoring the easement could have been enough to derail the entire project—
and hesitancy after initial planning meetings made that a strong possibility. Aber
NEFF, working with other interested parties, maintained its commitment to pro-
tect the largest forest easement of its kind; together the parties pursued ambitious
goals for both fund raising and a viable monitoring scheme.
One innovation within the management setting is worth pointing out: Die
project included an academic partner in the form of Dr. Steven Sader and his
research unit at the University of Maine. The reasons why NEFF selected Sader and
his researchers instead of a private company are not explicitly stated in the case but
are interesting to understand. We do know Sader’s proposal was “interesting.” The
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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
relationship NEFF developed with Sader’s team can perhaps be described as sym-
biotic; the researchers got the opportunity to expand their own knowledge of
GIS/RS applied to an easement monitoring, and to publish a few journal publica-
tions along the way. This working relationship between an academic unit and con-
servationists is a creative way to reach synergy; private industry, especially technol-
ogy-related fields, has also used it to advantage.
This kind of cooperation between academics, technical experts, and stewards
of the earth also occurs among practitioners of disaster response and humanitari-
an relief. In the rest of this piece we show how this technology, especially these
three levels of monitoring, can be applied in a very different set of contexts.
USE OF GIS/RS FOR DISASTER RESPONSE AND HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
Natural processes such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes comprise a sub-
set of the causes of landscape change. In the Pingree forest, both natural impacts
and human-imposed environmental changes led to landscape changes. Der
Pingree forest stewards were tasked with monitoring these landscape changes, als
set forth in the signed easements. Their responsibilities center on the health of the
landscape and of the people living and working there. Ähnlich, humanitarian
relief actors set out to monitor the health, not necessarily of a forest, but of the
human population living in an affected environment; they are required to respond
when the effects of a disaster cross that health threshold.
The number of people affected by large-scale disasters is growing steadily every
Jahr. Factors driving this growth range from simple demographics—the world’s
population is growing—to complex trends in land use and institutions that result
in increasingly dense populations locating in environmentally unstable places.1
Clearly, humanitarian relief efforts pose a major and intensifying challenge. Was
is not so clear is how to use available resources most effectively to accomplish
humanitarian objectives. In diesem Kontext, the Pingree case is instructive. We look at
how this kind of technology can be, and has been, adopted by response and relief
groups, and some of the challenges this adoption presents.
Multiscale protocol and baseline data
The multi-scale approach of the Pingree protocol can be applied widely in human-
itarian relief. Zum Beispiel, consider how GIS/RS was used in humanitarian relief
to capture the big picture via satellite images, a closer appreciation of destruction
from an airplane, and on-the-ground observations. After the Indian Ocean tsuna-
mi of December 2004, researchers from Asia, Europa, and the United States com-
pared before-and-after satellite images of Banda Aceh, Indonesien, to determine the
extent of damage from on-shore waves.2 Using data from the Space Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission for the city of Banda Aceh, they could analyze the images and
see the elevation of affected areas. Another researcher broke down the area in the
Aceh region by land use type; using remote sensing images and topographic maps,
he determined the extent of damage to each land use type.3 In addition to moni-
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When the Land Tells a Story
toring landscape change in response to natural processes like waves, relief agencies
have used remote sensing to monitor how large refugee populations move and
change in size, and how their presence and impact change the landscape.4 These are
all examples of Level-1 remote sensing.
As an example of Level-2 aerial photography, the Pacific Data Center (PDC)
used a hand-held digital camera, in a helicopter, to capture images of flood dam-
age on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2000. They then coded these pictures with time
and location information and used GIS tools to analyze the data and monitor the
situation.5 Within hours
after the photo shot by heli-
copter, the PDC provided
annotated damage assess-
ment images via its website;
within days, it posted addi-
tional images that provided
further details on
flood
damage.
Pingree forest stewards were
tasked with monitoring …
landscape changes, as set forth in
the signed easements… Ähnlich,
humanitarian relief actors set out
to monitor the health, nicht
necessarily of a forest, but of the
human population living in an
affected environment; they are
required to respond when the
effects of a disaster cross that
health threshold.
Level-3 on-the-ground
inspections are often needed
during humanitarian opera-
tionen. Zum Beispiel, Wo
landmines have been laid,
someone must accurately
identify their location so
non-combatants can travel
safely. In one particular sur-
vey
für
in Afghanistan,
remote sensing
Beispiel,
images provided a Level-1
list of possible mine loca-
tions based on tell-tale signs
in the landscape: “linear ‘ploughshare’ patterns across patches of terrain, trenches,
artificial embankments, fencing (especially along borders), evidence of military
Aktivität, and seasonal variations in land use.”6 After the monitors examined the
possible mine areas in more detail, they could undertake a Level-3 analysis in the
field using GPS units.
Thus land monitoring for humanitarian relief bears some similarities to the
Pingree project. The first step in the Pingree monitoring protocol was to establish
baseline conditions, which could be used to note future changes. Responding to
natural disasters requires a kind of double vision: both attention to changes in con-
ditions and a keen interest in the way things are at present. Noting change, wie
tsunami’s affects on coastlines, is key to providing aid. But if decision-makers
know the locations of villages before a disaster and can compare this information
to the situation afterwards, they can better appropriate resources to the areas that
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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
most likely need supplies and aid. “This process of comparing pre- and post-disas-
ter images is becoming common, in particular as a way of confirming initial esti-
mates of impact and needs assessments.”7 In other venues, the baseline data is
required less for comparison and more for general awareness of topography, Straßen,
distances, Populationen, land cover, usw. It is often imperative to have spatial data as
background to the present situation. Zum Beispiel, when roads become impassable,
transport planners can make better decisions if they know whether or not those
roads were paved.
Examples of Projects
Several projects around the world show how this technology can be useful in
response and relief work.
The Respond Project. Our first example of how this technology can be valuable
is the European Respond project,8 which focuses specifically on sharing spatial
Information. Funded through the European Space Agency, the project’s mission is
“to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the humanitarian community
through the appropriate and reliable application of geographic information.”9
Combining the expertise of over a dozen organizations, the project began work in
Dezember, 2003, after an earthquake struck Bam, in Iran. After the tsunami in
2004, Respond partners produced maps and analyzed high-resolution satellite data
covering parts of India and Sri Lanka. While these examples cover the time frame
of immediate response, the Respond project also focuses on preparedness and pre-
diction.
Google Earth. After Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast in August of
2005, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used a high-resolu-
tion camera mounted on an airplane to capture more than 8,000 images of New
Orleans, Louisiana, and nearby areas.10 Google Earth, a set of visualization tools
and spatial data such as maps, aerial photographs, and satellite images available
from Google, and a partnership of academic, government, and corporate
researchers, used specialized software to overlay other relevant data on these aeri-
al photographs. These images and tools were made available both to humanitari-
an workers and to the general public.
MapAction. In the last two years, MapAction, a United Kingdom charity,11
responded quickly to several disasters, providing mapping and GIS experts.
MapAction personnel were on the ground with GPS units noting locations of key
facilities such as hospitals, food warehouses, and roads. They then sent these coor-
dinates by radio back to base camp—perhaps a makeshift tent—where GIS oper-
ators incorporated them into digital maps. The maps could then be distributed to
humanitarian relief actors working in the area, such as the United Nations and
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The group’s maps had a
significant impact as the NGOs and other groups responded to the crises in Sri
Lanka and Pakistan.
United Nations Involvement. Three UN-related efforts handle spatial data gath-
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When the Land Tells a Story
ering and coordination on behalf of the humanitarian community. The first two
are the Geographic Information Support Team (GIST)12 and the United Nations
Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG).13 GIST, an inter-agency
arrangement involving the UN and many partners, promotes the use of spatial
data in humanitarian contexts as it identifies data resources, provides a forum for
data exchange, and promotes techniques and standards. The mandate of UNGI-
WG is to coordinate the use of cartography and GIS resources among the UN
agencies. A third partner helping coordinate and use GIS in the humanitarian sec-
tor is the multiple Humanitarian Information Centres (HICs) managed through
the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).14 All three
UN units acquire, verwalten, and disseminate GIS, leveraging the power of spatial
analysis with GIS/RS tools to meet local needs in times of crisis.
One aspect of this coordination, particularly within the HIC structure,
deserves attention here. The HIC is working to assemble a database detailing who
is doing what and where so all actors in a given humanitarian effort can distribute
resources without duplicating efforts or entirely neglecting a segment of survivors.
The HICs also produce spatial products, including maps, contact lists, and data
sets with important information about a geographic area. Georgio Santori, a tech-
nical manager for field information support in OCHA, describes the ways GIS
improves coordination: “These types of operations have been done before with
pencil and paper, but new computer technology is speeding up the process. We’re
able to process information very quickly and better coordinate our efforts.”15
A telling illustration of HIC’s work comes from Kathleen Miner, a member of
the initial HIC in Kosovo and initial manager of the HIC in Sumatra; she is now
with the Humanitarian Information Unit16 at the U.S. Department of State. Sie
relates how GIS, GPS, and landscape analysis made it possible to relocate tsunami
victims who had been buried near existing housing. A young man named Finn
approached the HIC about mapping five hastily-dug mass grave sites that held
etwa 600 bodies each. None of the graves were marked with anything
more than some crude sticks and tape; all were in danger of being “lost.” In fact
people were already driving over one grave, not realizing it was there. Local people
who owned the houses next to the graves were unwilling to move back to them for
cultural reasons; they also knew the decomposing bodies would contaminate their
wells. The HIC was able to plot both the mass graves and the proposed reburial
plot (an abandoned golf course some distance away) over a satellite image. Der
resulting image was far more persuasive than any words could be, and resulted in
relief workers getting the funding they needed to start moving the bodies.17
Academic research
Academics are learning to incorporate the power of GIS/RS tools in ways that
allow less advanced users to access them. One valid criticism of GIS/RS is that both
the data and the available analytical tools are highly technical. Imagine importing
these demanding tools into the field during a humanitarian crisis, only to find that
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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
local users, without adequate training, abandon them out of sheer frustration in
the midst of an emergency. This situation, together with researchers’ desire to see
the tools used successfully in the field, has led to a variety of research projects that
focus on making the tools usable by field workers and decision makers, not just
expert GIS analysts. One project, called GeoWorlds,18 focuses on the information
management potential of GIS; it uses a digital library and visualization techniques
to better combine several sources of data. GIS has great capacity to thread several
sources of data into a coherent image for analysis; GeoWorlds takes advantage of
this by providing less daunting tools for doing so.
Because humanitarian relief work incorporates not only multiple sources of
information but also multiple decision makers, other GIS research projects have
developed interfaces that make it easier for several non-experts to manipulate spa-
tial data simultaneously. Zum Beispiel, a Greek project called FORTHnet specializes
in 3D visualization of land areas while providing support to several users at the
same time.19 A project at Penn State University, called DAVE_G, or Dialogue-
Assisted Visual Environment for Geoinformation, recognizes the benefit of having
various ways to input data to a GIS system, beyond just a keyboard or mouse. Es
has been working on large-screen displays of information alongside voice and ges-
ture system commands.20
THE CHALLENGES OF ADOPTING GIS/RS
All the above examples show the great potential for using GIS/RS in the humani-
tarian sector, but adopting spatial technology into natural disaster management
will be neither easy nor automatic. Below we offer several examples of the varied
challenges that such implementation has faced so far, and compare them to the
Pingree case. We see these challenges as lying in four general areas: economics, Die
life-cycle of the technology, and issues relating to power and jurisdiction.
Economics
Virtually every agency, in every sector, finds it expensive to acquire the GIS/RS data
it needs to have a baseline or a current overview of the situation on the ground.
NEFF faced great challenges in managing its own budget and reducing costs. Es
committed to GIS/RS as a matter of course, but humanitarian relief managers and
decision makers can face intense challenges as they prioritize expenditures from
among a host of options and proposals. Before they address other economic chal-
lenges in choosing the GIS/RS path, even the best-intentioned managers can be
derailed by the sticker price alone. Andererseits, some inexpensive—or even
free—options are available. One GIS analyst claims that “a disaster manager can
get an effective GIS capability in place for only a few thousand dollars.”21 A reduced
price, Jedoch, does not guarantee a successful implementation.
The costs involved in using GIS/RS extend beyond the financial. As the Pingree
case showed, acquiring and analyzing data requires a significant investment of
Zeit. Even if a project gets past the financial constraints, “there will always be bar-
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When the Land Tells a Story
riers to acquiring timely and accurate data during a humanitarian emergency,” as
one humanitarian consultant put it.22
Humanitarian relief NGOs face a significant constraint on their budgets: viele
donors expect that nearly every dollar they give to an organization will find its way
to a specific project with directly measurable results—and will not be spent on
overhead or research. This makes it difficult to earmark monies to fund a GIS pro-
posal that is unknown to donors, however effective it is likely to be. Thus agencies
need to adopt thoughtful marketing strategies or write proposals for specific grant
monies, targeted for new projects, in addition to their regular budgets. NEFF, bei
least in the Pingree case, was fortunate to avoid such issues. It moved ahead with
its GIS/RS-based monitoring protocol without having to engage in a hard sell with
its funders.
This was an appropriate move, as the return on GIS/RS investment for the
Pingree forest can be measured in more than dollars; the technological applica-
tions have had a huge impact on stewardship of the landscape. But the Pingree for-
est stewards are realists: they also strive for economic viability and they work with-
in budgetary constraints. Each year they reduce the annual per acre cost of moni-
toring the land. In the short term, annual costs per acre are higher than required
because of endowment parameters. But this very reduction in costs over time rep-
resents a long-term gain for the project, which benefits from the initial investment
of money and time.
In the context of humanitarian relief, andererseits, long-term gains fly in
the face of current practices. Funders of urgent relief efforts naturally favor imme-
diate action over sustained and incremental returns on investments. The manage-
rial and donor environments support projects that deliver food and shelter over
GPS units and GIS software. Others who join this debate rightly question what
they see as a disconnect between “relief ” and “development”; they call, stattdessen, für
a more holistic view, seeing these aspects of the humanitarian cause as part of a
larger continuum of intervention.
Holistic monitoring in the full life-cycle
GIS technology can be applied in any or all phases within the full life-cycle of
humanitarian relief. This continuum includes several non-discrete phases: mitiga-
tion, preparedness, relief, recovery, und Entwicklung. Francesco Pisano, an advo-
cate of remote sensing, claims that “satellite-based imagery is most useful for relief
coordination and information gathering”;23 he also sees satellite applications as
“well worth the investment . . . across the entire disaster cycle, from response to
prevention.”24 And he defends the applicability of GIS/RS in development: “we
should not underestimate the value of [GIS] and satellite imagery in helping to fill
the gap between relief and development.”25
But Paul Currion, a consultant with years of experience covering humanitari-
an efforts and GIS use, is less optimistic: “It is hard to identify clear success in the
implementation of GIS in humanitarian work…. GIS has not proven itself in
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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
humanitarian response, but perhaps it can play a greater role in the ‘before’ and
‘after,’ the preparedness and recovery phases of an emergency.”26 Which position is
correct? Simply asking this may miss the point. GIS has not necessarily failed in the
humanitarian relief sector. As should be clear from our discussion above and
points we will raise below, we recognize the complicated challenges that face
humanitarian actors: landscapes and lives undergoing severe stress in volatile con-
texts amid an uneasy alliance with technology. This same stress applies to all relief
workers as they consider effective processes for implementing GIS/RS in any one
or more of the phases in the relief-to-recovery continuum.
The humanitarian sector might do well to learn a lesson from NEFF’s long-
term monitoring of the Pingree forest; it exemplifies a holistic program of care for
die Umgebung, both the landscape and the human populations interacting with
the land. Taking the long view, as NEFF has, applies to humanitarian workers as
they consider investing the necessary commitment and resources into a program
of GIS/RS schemes and protocols. In the end such programs benefit the survivors
of natural disasters and the land upon which they rebuild their lives.
We admit it is difficult for internal and external observers to assimilate this
long view. As personnel constantly turn over, they take institutional knowledge
with them. NEFF has the advantage of being able to leverage the experience curve
of seasoned employees who bring their knowledge and expertise to bear on the
continued growth of both the organization and the effectiveness of landscape
Überwachung. Im Gegensatz, humanitarian relief workers might contract to three agen-
cies on eight different projects over the course of five years. Ähnlich, economy of
scope—solving a new problem by applying answers developed for an earlier prob-
lem—becomes difficult when few if any personnel have the necessary institution-
al memory. Humanitarian relief workers, writing their final reports, can often be
overheard extolling the most recent “lessons learned” in one breath—and in the
next breath admitting that a more accurate label might be “lessons documented.”
Power and resistance
Powerful decision makers in humanitarian relief agencies, like those who have
country-level oversight of budget and programs, hear sales pitches from GIS ana-
lysts or advisers who suggest using GIS/RS in relief programs. The hype—and
truth—convinces some decision makers, while others resist, fearing change.
“The next great thing.” “Revolutionary.” Substitute your own hyperbolic
descriptor for the labor-saving tool peddled at your doorstep or office mailbox.
GIS/RS gadgets provide yet another opportunity for whiz-bang marketers, mit
their glossy multi-colored maps screaming for attention and financial support. GIS
can be—and can be touted as—an all-encompassing tool capable of conducting
deep spatial analysis. It can also be just a glorified way to produce slick maps.
Beyond the capacity to generate a pretty map, GIS does not automatically
promise analysis. All too often the hype remains just that: “even with high-resolu-
tion data, interpreting the imagery to define” the devastated regions is a chal-
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When the Land Tells a Story
lenge.27 Hype may sell a product or convince a manager to funnel resources
towards a new GIS project, but few projects benefit as much as they possibly can
when GIS technology is not used efficiently.
Decision makers also resist change. In a sector where personnel learn their
skills in the fire of disasters, it can take significant force and will to change stan-
dard operating procedures. It is too easy to see a high-tech tool like GIS as count-
er productive and thus reject it as a possible solution. At the field level, experienced
workers may resist changing procedures that allow them to use the electronic tool
when other low-tech tools command substantial staying power. Even the Personal
Digital Assistant (PDA), which made “the technology more accessible to a wider
range of users” in the Pingree case, faces limitations in the field. And some man-
agers simply resist because the technology represents another layer of responsibil-
ity and retraining on a new system.28
Jurisdiction
In comparing the Pingree case to humanitarian relief, we also see significant dif-
ferences in the relevant questions about jurisdiction over land, Daten, and reputa-
tion. Multiple actors participate in humanitarian relief operations while the
Pingree forest is monitored and maintained by a limited set of actors. Während der
tsunami relief efforts governments from around the world pledged financial sup-
port as well as personnel transports into Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Zusätzlich, Die
U.N., the European Union, and other multi-lateral organizations provided servic-
es of various kinds. And literally hundreds of NGOs, some newly formed after the
disaster, inundated villages. At times the relief operations began to remind work-
ers of circuses; some NGOs then attempted to organize the many players while
others refocused their energies where they found people under-served. In such a
potentially contentious environment, jurisdiction questions beg for procedures to
make coordination more efficient—and thus may involve GIS data management
capabilities. Beyond the problems of coordination, the issues of legal and de facto
jurisdiction in times of disaster operations belong in the hands of international
humanitarian law experts.
Moving to the issue of data jurisdiction, we find a similar pattern of disorgan-
ized efforts by many actors. Granted, many efforts have been made to coordinate
the collection, organization, and sharing of information among humanitarian
relief actors. Aber, as we noted above, in times of disaster more than one organiza-
tion may collect exactly the same data. Coordination is one factor in this duplica-
tion. Another is trust. Can one agency trust the data collection techniques of
another agency? What could happen if an agency incorporates information into its
decision-making process without clearly understanding whether that data is valid?
Standards, also mentioned briefly in the Pingree case, begin to address these
concerns. Several projects are beginning to move towards consensus on standards
within the humanitarian sector; among them are the Sphere Project,29 HAP-I,30 Die
Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian
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Randall B. Kemp and Sanjeev Khagram
Action (ALNAP),31 and PeopleInAid.32 One particular effort related to GIS, Die
recently-formed Humanitarian Data Model project,33 seeks to build a complete set
of the data points needed for humanitarian relief efforts. Among the types of data
points needed are basemaps, hazards, Transport, and logistics.
NEFF facilitated the largest easement monitoring project of its time using
GIS/RS tools. Will its reputation always include a mention of that achievement?
That question remains unanswered now, along with an equally interesting ques-
tion: which NGO will carry the mantle of the leader in humanitarian GIS efforts?
If we can take one lesson from the discussion above, it would be about the creative
management of a valuable and powerful tool for monitoring landscapes and con-
ducting sophisticated analysis. The “GIS NGO” will be the organization that
demonstrates a new kind of management leadership: not just the ability to use
GIS/RS as a high-tech tool, but also the ability to incorporate that tool holistically
into a management context. So far no NGO engaged in humanitarian relief has
managed to do so.
Wir laden Leser zu Kommentaren ein. Email
1. Between 1996 Und 2005 the mean annual number of persons affected—made homeless, jobless,
sick—by natural disasters was 240,250,791. For those years the mean estimated annual monetary
cost for natural disasters runs to US$65.6bn. Quelle: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International
Disaster Database, Universite’ Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgien, available at
http://www.em-dat.net .
2. Jose C. Borrero, Field data and satellite imagery of tsunami effects in Banda Aceh, Wissenschaft, 308
(2005), P. 1596; P. Chen, S. C. Liew, and L. K. Kwoh, Tsunami damage assessment using high resolu-
tion satellite imagery: A case study of Aceh, Indonesien, in Proceedings of IEEE International
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 25–29, 2005 (Seoul, Korea: IEEE, 2005), S. 1405-
1408; S. V. Salinas, K. K. Low, and S. C. Liew, Quick analysis of wave patterns generated by tsunami
waves and captured by SPOT imagery, in IEEE Proceedings 2005, S. 3634–3636; Sotaro Tanaka,
Toshiro Sugimura, Nobuhiro Tomiyama, Yasunori Nakayama, and Hideki Hashiba, A relationship
between tsunami disaster along west coast of Sumatra and land elevation analyzed with
Landsat/ETM+ and SRTM data, in IEEE Proceedings 2005, S. 1811–1813.
3. See Chen et al. (2005), op cit.
4.. Einar Bjorgo, Using very high spatial resolution multispectral satellite sensor imagery to monitor
refugee camps, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 21(3), 2000, S. 611–616.
5.. Craig Laben, Integration of remote sensing data and geographic information system technology
for emergency managers and their applications at the Pacific Disaster Center, Optical Engineering,
41(9) 2002, S. 2129–2136, quote from p. 2132.
6. Kerry Abbott, Geographic information systems in food security and demining programs,
Humanitarian Exchange, 24, Juli 2003, S. 31-33, quote on p. 32. See also Aldo A. Benini, Charles E.
Conley, Richard Shdeed, Kim Spurway, and Mark Yarmoshuk, Integration of different data bodies
for humanitarian decision support: An example from mine action, Disasters, 27(4) 2003, S.
288–304.
7. Francesco Pisano, Using satellite imagery to improve emergency relief, Humanitarian Exchange,
32, Dezember 2005, S. 36-40; quote on p. 39.
8. Sehen
78
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When the Land Tells a Story
9. Lars Holledig, The Respond Project: Geo-information for humanitarian aid, GIM International,
19(7) Juli 2005, S. 47-49; quote on p. 47.
10. Illah Nourbakhsh, Randy Sargent, Anne Wright, Kathryn Cramer, Brian McClendon, Und
Michael Jones, Mapping disaster zones, Natur, 439 (16) Februar 2006, S. 787-788; quote on p.
787.
11. Sehen
12. Sehen
13.Sehen
14. Sehen
17. Persönliche Kommunikation, Kathleen Miner, 5/16/06.
18. Vished Kumar, Alejandro Bugacov, Murilo Coutinho, and Robert Neches, Integrating geograph-
ic information systems, spatial digital libraries and information spaces for conducting humanitari-
an assistance and disaster relief operations in urban environments, in GIS ’99: Proceedings of the 7th
ACM international symposium on Advances in geographic information systems (New York: ACM Press,
1999), S. 146-151.
19. Sisi Zlatanova, Andrea G. Fabbri, and Jonathan Li, Geo-information for disaster management:
Large-scale 3D data needed by urban areas, GIM International, 19 (3), Marsch 2005, S. 10–11, 13.
20. Ingmar Rauschert, Pyush Agrawal, Rajeev Sharma, Sven Fuhrmann, Isaac Brewer, and Alan
MacEachren, Designing a human-centered, multimodal gis interface to support emergency manage-
ment, in GIS ’02: Proceedings of the 10th ACM international symposium on Advances in geographic
information systems (New York: ACM Press, 2002), S. 119-124.
21. Laben, P. 2132. See also Reinhard Kaiser, Paul B. Spiegel, Alden K. Henderson, and Michael L.
Gerber, The application of geographic information systems and global positioning systems in
humanitarian emergencies: Lessons learned, programme implications and future research, Disasters,
27(2) 2003, S. 127–140.
22. Paul Currion, Better the devil we know: Obstacles and opportunities in humanitarian GIS,
Januar 25, 2006.
23. Pisano, P. 37.
24. Ebenda, P. 39.
25. Ebenda.
26. Currion.
27. Holledig, P. 48.
28. An illustration of how technology in the field is not always practical comes from an experienced
field worker who asked not to be identified. This person has no fear of adopting appropriate tech-
nology but chose to leave the PDA at home because of its functional limitations in the typical dis-
aster environment. This person described several constraints: sunlight makes the screen difficult to
read, and air-born particles infiltrate the device; limited access to recharging capabilities makes the
PDA hard to power, and it is much easier to use a pad of paper. Persönliche Kommunikation, 3/29/06.
29. Sehen
30. Sehen
31. Sehen
32. Sehen
33. Sehen
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