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Meanwhile, Google shut down its crisis map earlier this year[1]. So now, instead of being able to go there to see if there was any information about a developi

Meanwhile, Google shut down its crisis map earlier this year[1]. So now, instead of being able to go there to see if there was any information about a developing crisis, you have to first know what's going on so you know what to search, and only then will it show you some information. [1] https://9to5google.com/2021/02/17/google-crisis-map/ https://9to5google.com/2021/02/17/google-crisis-map/

wodow 5y ago
https://www.crisiscleanup.org/map https://www.crisiscleanup.org/map is a kind-of alternative, based on private data. It lets you start from a list of recent natural disasters (in the US).
- lucb1e 5y ago
  Tangentially related: there is also a loosely organised team helping to map crisis areas for getting aid and charting where people live(d) that might need help. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team
bsedlm 5y ago
I highly doubt they shut it down, they probably just closed off public access
- jvvw 5y ago
  I remember going to a talk given by the developer of something similar (can't remember the name of the site, sorry, but was given at a university, so probably a charity or public sector project of some sort) and apparently there are lots of issues with making data about this type of thing publicly available because there are malevolent parties who will try and take advantage of information about such situations in certain ways. Think they said a lot more - the talk was a while ago, but it was an angle that I hadn't thought about and I recall they had to have a screening process for whom they made information available to. (Edit: this is the talk: http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?s=29&whichevent=3148 http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?s=29&whichevent...)
notatoad 5y ago
it seems like the only useful information conveyed on that view is somebody wondering where in the world there is a crisis that they can spectate on. a colour-coded map of where you can go in the world to find a problem seems like it's feeding an unhealthy way of consuming information. google maps does an excellent job of showing crisis information where it's relevant. if you don't know enough about a crisis to google it or find it on a map, it's probably not relavant to you.
- PeterCorless 5y ago
  There does need to be a global crisis "weather map." I proposed such a solution back in the 2011-2012 timeframe. It needs to be a data-centric system similar to Wikipedia, and, in fact, could and should integrate with other open source, public and crowdsourced information systems like Wikipedia. Whether the maps are provided by Google Maps or Open Street Map or any other project should matter less than there should be a publicly discoverable way to find out how current and emergent crises will affect their lives.
  - themacguffinman 5y ago
    That's just called "the news". I don't see how having a dedicated, detailed crisis map adds to existing journalism for outside observers.
    - PeterCorless 5y ago
      No, "the news" is not the same as a sort of "digital twin" global crisis data model. There are attempts at trying to map the news. The Ukrainian crisis fostered the creation of the Live UA Maps project: https://liveuamap.com/ https://liveuamap.com/ Its coverage has since expanded to include Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon and beyond. But mapping "the news" is insufficient. You also have the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team: https://www.hotosm.org/ https://www.hotosm.org/ Because they sometimes need to create maps of places that have literally never been mapped before. For example, zoom in to Nigeria: https://www.hotosm.org/where-we-work/nigeria/ https://www.hotosm.org/where-we-work/nigeria/ There is a hell of a lot to make a global data model and map system work. And we're missing a hell of a lot pretending that "the news" will do it for us. Again, I foresee that this is the kind of work that needs a Wikipedia-level of involvement on a global scale. There are emergent elements of it, but we're not there yet.

wodow 5y ago

https://www.crisiscleanup.org/map https://www.crisiscleanup.org/map is a kind-of alternative, based on private data. It lets you start from a list of recent natural disasters (in the US).

lucb1e 5y ago
Tangentially related: there is also a loosely organised team helping to map crisis areas for getting aid and charting where people live(d) that might need help. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team

bsedlm 5y ago

I highly doubt they shut it down, they probably just closed off public access

jvvw 5y ago
I remember going to a talk given by the developer of something similar (can't remember the name of the site, sorry, but was given at a university, so probably a charity or public sector project of some sort) and apparently there are lots of issues with making data about this type of thing publicly available because there are malevolent parties who will try and take advantage of information about such situations in certain ways. Think they said a lot more - the talk was a while ago, but it was an angle that I hadn't thought about and I recall they had to have a screening process for whom they made information available to. (Edit: this is the talk: http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?s=29&whichevent=3148 http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?s=29&whichevent...)

notatoad 5y ago

it seems like the only useful information conveyed on that view is somebody wondering where in the world there is a crisis that they can spectate on. a colour-coded map of where you can go in the world to find a problem seems like it's feeding an unhealthy way of consuming information. google maps does an excellent job of showing crisis information where it's relevant. if you don't know enough about a crisis to google it or find it on a map, it's probably not relavant to you.

PeterCorless 5y ago
There does need to be a global crisis "weather map." I proposed such a solution back in the 2011-2012 timeframe. It needs to be a data-centric system similar to Wikipedia, and, in fact, could and should integrate with other open source, public and crowdsourced information systems like Wikipedia. Whether the maps are provided by Google Maps or Open Street Map or any other project should matter less than there should be a publicly discoverable way to find out how current and emergent crises will affect their lives.
- themacguffinman 5y ago
  That's just called "the news". I don't see how having a dedicated, detailed crisis map adds to existing journalism for outside observers.
  - PeterCorless 5y ago
    No, "the news" is not the same as a sort of "digital twin" global crisis data model. There are attempts at trying to map the news. The Ukrainian crisis fostered the creation of the Live UA Maps project: https://liveuamap.com/ https://liveuamap.com/ Its coverage has since expanded to include Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon and beyond. But mapping "the news" is insufficient. You also have the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team: https://www.hotosm.org/ https://www.hotosm.org/ Because they sometimes need to create maps of places that have literally never been mapped before. For example, zoom in to Nigeria: https://www.hotosm.org/where-we-work/nigeria/ https://www.hotosm.org/where-we-work/nigeria/ There is a hell of a lot to make a global data model and map system work. And we're missing a hell of a lot pretending that "the news" will do it for us. Again, I foresee that this is the kind of work that needs a Wikipedia-level of involvement on a global scale. There are emergent elements of it, but we're not there yet.