Collaboration HOT/MSF/CartONG for Guinea crisis

02 Apr, 2014

MSF-Switzerland has activated CartONG to support their operations facing the serious Ebola virus crisis in Guinea. In the framework of this partnership and to face the urgent need for new data, CartONG tasked the OpenStreetMap contributors through the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

We are collaborating with Médecins Sans Frontières-Suisse since last year to provide them maps to their field operations during emergencies. The first activation happened with Typhoon Hayian in the Philiipines, and then in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The Ebola outbreak in Guinea has pushed MSF-CH to strenghten this partnership by sending a GIS officer on the field supported by CartONG.

The Ebola virus is an extremely dangerous disease that usually kills 9 out of 10 infected persons, with no existing cure or vaccine. Its mode of transmission (only by contact) limits the risks of pandemic contamination, but it is nevertheless a very harmful disease. This is why Michel van Herp, epidemiologist at MSF, notices that "It is important to get back to the origin of the contamination to contain the outbreak. Every patient potentially contaminated have to be watched closely and isolated at the very first signs of contamination" (MSF-CH website).

This makes mapping obviously helpful to situate the cases, monitor the outbreak and support medical decision-making.

Timeline:

March 21st: the GIS office leaves on the field with a MSF team, bringing with him the first base maps produced by CartONG.
March 25th : facing the request from the field and the important data gap on the first cities hit by the virus, CartONG activates the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) to digitize the basic most important information (roads, buildings). Satellite imagery is ordered to Astrium in the afternoon, in the meantime tracing begins with the existing Bing tiles.
March 26th: satellite pictures are delivered and uploaded thanks to the efforts and support of OpenStreetMap-France contributors (who host them pro bono). OSM contributors work all day on the three areas defined as prioritaries by MSF Guéckédou, Kissidougou and Macenta. They are remarkably efficient: nearly 110,000 editions by 180 contributors on the 27th only! Including several CartONG volunteers, who organize a chatroom to coordinate that day.
March 27th: 2 of the 3 cities are already 100% mapped! The data collected allow the GIS officer on the field to complete, print and share with the aid teams the complete map of Guéckédou on Thursday evening. While the GIS officer continues improving the OSM data from the field, CartONG produces several big paper maps, that are sent on the field over the next days.
Since March 28th: tracing continues on OSM, with the aim to continue to fit the best to the needs of the field. CartONG manages the coordination between the GIS officer on the field and the HOT volunteers.

This mission was particularly interesting since it was the first time we could coordinate the CartONG headquarter team (providing remote technical support and a permanent link with MSF), the GIS officer on the field (who transmits needs and information from the rescue teams), and the global community of OSM contributors activated thanks to the outstanding work done by the HOT coordinators (Andrew Buck and Pierre Béland). Results produced are amazing and a substantial asset for the teams on the field (cf. the various maps shared on ReliefWeb). All in all, 302 contributors have added 1.2 millions objects, 114,000 buildings and 5000 places in 10 days! The contributors are motivated by the fact their contributions are directly useful for the humanitarian response, and these contributions are also a source of motivation for the teams on the field.

"The mapping effort in Guinea to support Médecins Sans Frontières have been amazing so far. We have already mapped two of the three major cities of the region in less than 12 hours since we received the imagery. It is an awesome rate of progression, even for HOT. I don't remember us mapping a city in less than 12 hours for any HOT activation, and we've done 2 today..." F.B.Bagnoumana, volontaire HOT.

OSM data are very useful in the field: first the base data (roads, POI, cities) allow the emergency team to find their way and go help where they are needed. then for more specific uses: building maps to situate buildings contaminated/sanitized, location of contaminated patients, population density analysis... The information sent by the mapper on the field allow to refine this work (number of inhabitants per household, typology of buildings, etc.).

This crisis has demonstrated once again the formidable efficiency of the OSM community. Good news, the OSM communities supported by HOT in Africa these last years have largely contributed to the mapping effort, in a great international solidarity wave. This is the strength of mapping, perhaps the field where digital volunteering has the more concrete effects. However, one could ask what are the impacts of this type of activation for the local community, beyond the emergency response. Are and will the maps and data produced serve the needs of the local population? We are currently thinking on how we could better address this issue.

This first experience of collaboration CartONG/HOT/OSM/MSF is very promising. Lessons learnt will allow us to identify good collaboration standards and to create efficient workflows. Humanitarian GIS is a very innovative field, and these multiple experiences are encouraging our collective creativity and commitment.

Hal Hodson from the New Scientist also published an article presenting the activation with the testimony of several actors: "Online army helps map Guinea's Ebola outbreak".

Example of map created for MSF with OSM data

Emergency mapping deployments during Ebola crisis (MSF)

Mapping & GIS

Médecins Sans Frontières-Switzerland

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Collaboration HOT/MSF/CartONG for Guinea crisis

Collaboration HOT/MSF/CartONG for Guinea crisis