If you want to find an up-to-date map of Haiti, then there is only one place to go. It is not Google Maps or any of its competitors. It is the admirable OpenStreetMap.org (OSM), which is being updated even as I write by volunteers all over the world.
It is the Wikipedia of the mapping world, and is used by millions of people. Started a little over five years ago in London by Steve Coast, it has steadily built up its database to the point where most of the world has now been mapped by a formidable team of volunteers that is doubling every six months: There were 212,000 at the last count, of whom 10 percent are active during any one month. At the end of last month, there were 239 people rebuilding the map of Haiti. For a bird’s eye view of operations, go to the Ushahidi site.
When the earthquake happened, it was a signal for OSM members around the globe to start downloading satellite images (either freely available or donated by Yahoo) and then to start tracing the outlines of streets on top so a map emerged. Volunteers on the ground in Haiti, often using Garmin GPS locators, added vital local information — such as which roads were passable, where the hospitals were situated, where refugee camps were, or walls, pharmacies, hedges and so forth — so rescue workers had an invaluable tool. The result is a new, detailed map that is updated frequently, unlike most commercial maps.
This is only one of a number of open projects operating in Haiti in what may come to be seen as a seminal moment in the harnessing of the Web to help those in need. Others include CrisisCommons, WeHaveNeed, Sahana, open source medical software and numerous others, not to mention Twitter tags such as #haiti. One of the problems of using appropriate technology in disaster regions is that bricklayers in Haiti don’t know of innovations that might have been pioneered in remote parts of Africa, a problem that Akvo is trying to solve with regard to water. There are also signs that Hexayurt low-cost housing projects are starting to seed in Haiti.
OpenStreetMaps is itself at a turning point as it tries to progress from a techie-driven project to one that the ordinary consumer can not only understand, but contribute to as well. It suffers from what might be dubbed “open source syndrome,” a complaint that also affects other open source projects including the Linux operating system — the involvement of skilled volunteers can make the early stages a bit difficult to understand for laypeople.
However, they have been working on it and it is now much easier to do. A few days ago I added my local curry house to the map (next to a post office box someone else had already inserted). All I needed to do was to drag a symbol of a restaurant from the bottom of the screen to where I wanted to put it and then add the words “Indian Diner.” That, in a nutshell, is the comparative advantage that OpenStreetMap claims over other online maps. Users can add whatever detail interests them such as cycle routes, skateboarding areas, cycle parks, paths through parks — the parts Google can’t reach. You have to register (it’s free) as a member to alter the map. There is an iPhone app, Mapzen, produced by Cloudmade (company founded by Coast and Nick Clark to exploit mapping opportunities) that enables you to insert places of interest you have found on the move. If that takes off, it could lift the project to a new level.
Often volunteers create maps where there was nothing before, as in Kibera in Kenya where basic amenities such as drinking water sources and latrines as well as churches are located to improve living standards and combat illness (for example, where latrines are located too near water sources). The Kibera team have been asked by Ushahidi and Google to include mapping of the slums of Port-au-Prince as part of the relief effort, something that hasn’t been done before.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has just rediscovered cooperativism as a way of galvanizing people to vote Labour. He would have been much more in tune with the times if he had widened it to include the open source movement in all its different aspects. It is one of the most interesting phenomena of our times, a kind of global mutual society. While the likes of Apple and Amazon, though producing fantastic products, are becoming ever more controlling and proprietary, it is sobering to be reminded that one of the basic instincts of human nature — mutual cooperation for no cost — is thriving on a global scale.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS