97 Humanitarian organizations around the world apply GIS to analyze and plan missions, mobilize and implement field teams quickly, and monitor and evaluate their effectiveness and sustainability, and they do it in real time. The 2018 Thai cave rescue, which trapped 12 boys and their coach underground, was a testament to the power of collaboration and the use of GIS for the sake of good. Maps became a central tool in this rescue mission, coordinating swift action under stressful conditions, and helping devise a plan that eventually led to the successful rescue of the team. As the mission shifted from search to rescue, maps provided near real-time readings of oxygen levels and changes in water depth. The maps kept everyone focused on the immediate tasks at hand. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) uses satellite imagery, field data, and advanced spatial analysis and mapping to understand and combat food insecurity. The FAO’s Data in Emergencies (DIEM) team created the DIEM Hub using GIS technology and remote sensing to monitor food vulnerability and identify the needs of farmers. “People are living in situations where they are constantly being hit by something,” said Neil Marsland, head of the DIEM team in the Office of Emergencies and Resilience at FAO in Rome. The DIEM Hub analyses, maps, and stores the 150 indicators collected during each survey in countries such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, and Colombia. The populations in these countries are “telling us they need food, but also other things,” Marsland added. In the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, GIS technology has been a significant tool in identifying the presence of explosive remnants of war along with the damage to infrastructure and homes. The HALO Trust, the largest demining organization in the world, uses GIS to detail the impacts and ongoing dangers in conflict regions. “What we do is critical to reconstruction and resettlement post-conflict, because you cannot just deal with the damage straight away,” said Luan Jaupi, head of information and communications technology at The HALO Trust. “We enable other humanitarian organizations and national authorities to safely conduct their activities by informing them where it’s safe to go and making places safe by clearing the explosives that are littered around.” Humanitarian Assistance When the conflict in Ukraine began in February 2022, MapAction dispatched GIS professionals to neighboring Poland within 24 hours of a request to support agencies involved in delivering humanitarian aid. In their day jobs, MapAction volunteers use GIS to help governments, businesses, and other organizations maximize efficiency and improve decisionmaking. During a crisis, MapAction’s GIS professionals do the same, providing location intelligence products that create a common operating picture. This helps crisis response teams better understand and navigate unfamiliar territories and avoid duplication of effort. “It’s a privilege to have been there in the early days of MapAction, and I’m really impressed at the impact subsequent teams have made with it,” said Olivier Cottray, a founder of MapAction. “It was at the forefront of the sector now known as humanitarian GIS and has become a mainstay in humanitarian response. It’s impossible to quantify that impact. How many lives did the availability of an up-to-date map help to save? They are countless.” The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) conducted a five-year field research study in collaboration with partners in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Hargeisa, Somaliland, to understand the lives of migrants after they move to urban communities. “Research into migration in response to conflict or disasters highlights the fact that since people expect the situation at home to improve, they also expect to return,” said Michael Collyer, professor of geography at the University of Sussex and principal investigator of the study. Researchers used novel methods combining satellite imagery, GIS software to create maps, and personal interviews to identify geographic factors— environmental hazards, lack of local resources, and mobility barriers—that prevent migrants from thriving. Humanitarian aid organizations use GIS to help address some of their most common challenges such as where to prioritize recovery efforts.
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