UC Geography Department Provides Support for United Nations Haiti Response

Data from the United Nations and other sources have been organized into an open information network to support relief and rebuilding in response to the Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti earthquake. University of Cincinnati scientists in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences set up and hosted two servers, one for the development of the UN’s disaster Web site and one to allow UN researchers to exchange satellite data for a satellite feed to Port-au-Prince.

The United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (“

UN-SPIDER

”) was developed to provide universal access to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management.

“We provided the development servers for the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response,” says Assistant Professor of  Geography, Richard Beck, the lead for this effort. “We have supported this UN disaster relief Web site for about three years now.”

After the response to the Indonesian tsunami, the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions concluded that a major added value had been the availability of geospatial data for the planning, coordination, monitoring, accountability and audit of disaster-related aid. These

lessons learned

 are being applied to the UN response to the earthquake in Haiti.

The Haiti Spatial Data Infrastructure (Haiti SDI) is a public resource that may be updated by anyone and used in Google Earth and other applications. One capability of this is the Haiti SDI Cascading Web Map Service (WMS), which provides a single access point for applications like Google Earth and Gaia SDI Platform.

The service works by aggregating WMS deployed by such entities as the University of Cincinnati, CubeWerx framework WMS, the New York Public Library and the government into one easy-to-use resource.

Beck downplays his role in the big picture of the disaster response.

“We set up the development servers and basic software infrastructure but the UN people did most of the work,” says Beck. Over the weekend of Jan. 23–24, 2010, the Web site was transferred from a smaller server at UC to its permanent home at UN Bonn. 

Although this is the first time that Beck has been called into action in a disaster situation, it is not the first time that he has used his expertise to bring information networks to people in remote locations.

“We have been working on geographic information networks for remote areas in the Arctic and on Native American lands for approximately 10 years,” says Beck. “Most of our geographic information network efforts are focused on environmental remote sensing but we have also done some work with NASA on disaster response over satellite networks. The UN effort was a natural outgrowth of those efforts.”

Read more about Beck’s work:

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About the Department of Geography

1/15/2010    Haitian Earthquake Response
President Williams calls on the UC community to respond to the great need in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake.