Syria - community mapping appeal

[France Lamy]

Eyad, Anas, and other colleagues - Greetings!

Since the protests began in March, violence in Syria has escalated. Many humanitarian organizations have been delivering essential relief supplies; distributing food; evacuating casualties; assisting the refugees and IDPs; etc.

The UN has requested better maps over these priority areas for Syria, but also between the cities, as tens of thousands are internally displaced. These maps will help them better understand the current situation and needs of the local populations; and also facilitate humanitarian response and planning.

More specifically, UN is asking Map Maker volunteers to help map roads, hospitals, schools, community centers, and other key resources. The Map Maker data contributed is being shared periodically with the UN agencies, under this agreement. 

If you have local knowledge over these areas, pls start mapping. And your suggestions/comments are most appreciated! 

If you know individuals or organizations interested in this effort -- please ask them to join our Syria mailing list. 

Thanks!

France

[France Lamy]

Hey Mappers --

Thanks a lot for the various mapping contributions & efforts over Syria. This data has been directly supporting the work of the UN-OCHA in Syria and the region.

Based on UN's recommendations, I updated the target mapping areas as follows:

I added the priority mapping locations -- Al Rastan, Talbisah, Talkalakh and Duma.

And mapping focus should be extended to --
All roads, airports, harbors, railway, crossing points, main roads (transportation networks), hospitals, clinics (health facilities), schools, universities (education centers), public buildings, religious facilities, major squares/plaza usually located at the city centers.

Pls let us know how we may best assist with this mapping effort.

Cheers,
France

--
France Lamy, Ph.D.
Program Manager
Google.org
cell phone: +41 (0) 79 543 46 83
Zurich, Switzerland

[Anas Qtiesh]

Hello France,

I started working on Al Rastan but the sattellite imagery is poor and there's a few issues such as alignment issues in the western part of the city and the actual imagery of the city is split between two images and the patch work along the border of those images is very badly done and is very confusing to me as a mapper.

Here's a link so you can check the issue I'm talking about: http://www.google.com/mapmaker?hl=en&q=Ar+Rastan&gw=30&ll=34.928269,36.726866&spn=0.024594,0.045061&z=15&vpid=1318824395966&t=h&lyt=large_map&htll=34.929215,36.723776&hyaw=58.48474517044545

If it's possible to batch fix the lignment issues to the west of the city and provide better quality satellite imagery that would definitely lead to producing more accurate maps of the town. In the meantime, I'll be looking at the other areas requested.

Regards,

Anas Qtiesh

--

Anas Qtiesh
San Francisco, California
Cell: (617) 586-6184
www.anasqtiesh.com

[France Lamy]

Thanks Anas,

I did transmit your request to my colleagues.

Also, if there are any cites for which you would like to see higher & more recent resolution imagery, pls let me know.

Finally, are there any community groups (in the diaspora, in Syria) that we should get in touch with to spread the word about this effort, and increase community engagement?

Thanks so much!

France