Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

mapping new orleans

Rob’s volleyball friend Brody, a cartographer, is off on an intriguing adventure: He’s flying out to New Orleans to make maps. He’s set up a blog to chronicle his trip.

You all have probably heard the news, and if not, a good chunk of the southern gulf region of the USA was leveled by Hurricane Katrina. This area is, was, will be again, heavily populated. Thus, there are now a lot of people who need some maps. Why do they need maps when they have nothing else? Because maps are tools. Eventually, residents will return to their homes, and they’ll need to know where to get help. Its not like taking the truck down to Home Depot will be a typical Saturday afternoon trip, especially when roads have been washed out, Home Depot is closed, or what you really just need is a huge tarp to put over your house to keep some water out. Maybe what’s more important is finding a pharmacy or hospital that is open. Or perhaps you need to now where the Red Cross is handing out food, because you don’t have any and your electrical line has been knocked out so you have no lines of communication, other than what’s in your immediate vicinity. Maps can show you where to get this stuff.

Maps can also be used to help coordinate the relief effort. The information gathered and displayed on maps often comes from a variety of groups, and can represent nearly anything. Maps can show where assistance locations are, as well as where assistance needs to be given. Thus, maps can be used by residents, and by local officials. By working with both of these groups, relief work becomes efficient, with a rapid response. GIS technology makes this possible, in that maps can be generated quickly, and adjusted to fit a variety of uses. With a few clicks of a mouse, what was once a city street map, can be transformed to show poverty levels with an overlay of open food outlets and the travel time to those outlets by the local population. Click another button, and we can display areas that were flooded, and by how much. Another click, and we can show the sources of malfunctioning water sources. The options are limited to only what data you can get your hands on, and the internet makes a lot of data available.

So this is what I’m going down to do.

I’m not sure who he’s planning to work with or what his plans are for dealing with the various communications difficulties down there, but it’ll be interesting to follow his journey. I’m definitely impressed — and a bit awestruck — by the personal investment he’s making in helping the relief effort, not just giving money, but offering his time and creative skills as well.

Update: Sept. 23, 11:12 a.m. - Brody, now in New Orleans, mentions in his latest post that he’s working with the international nonprofit group Global MapAid. Some of the maps (PDF) he’s made for this trip are already online.