We had an Open Call today on the topic of Harvey response and 12+ people attended, with:

• questions
• requests
• report-ins
• offers of help

The notes for this call (disorganized but wide-ranging) are below; please add missing or additional resources in the comments below. Thanks!

August 28, 2PM Central / 3PM ET

Call topic: Disaster response -- what should Public Lab do?

Attending: Willow Brugh, Devin, Dan, Scott, Mikel Maron, Bill and general invite Facilitating: Jeff Warren

Call Agenda

• MapMill inquiry (https://github.com/publiclab/mapmill/, versions 1 and 2)
• Call to Public Lab general membership
  • community submitted idea: mapping floodwater depth enabling personal motorboats to do DIY rescues
  • Not sure whose request, will check (Liz -- thoughts?)
• https://publiclab.org/wiki/stormwater
• Humanitarian OSM / pollution data tracking
• Are there opportunities to collaborate or coordinate citizen mapping outreach efforts?
  • Send requests to info@skytruth.org
  • From SkyTruth: Launching map to document oil/chemical spills
  • Ushahidi Confirmed, Launch date TBD May be good overlap with Willow's request
  • Willow: want to build on what other ppl already are up to in pollution recording - can act as a translation "bridge" to Coast Guard inputs.
• Gilbert Rochon compiled resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjO2nEgh7qOmgM967dwAebCaT11Ni12ljOdVVTPlhL8/edit?ts=5995f4be

Notes at http://pad.publiclab.org/p/opencall

Harvey overview

Mikel's part: International GIS team at Red Cross - Harvey Response data mapping needs

• starting with civil air patrol -- FEMA (same process used during Sandy).
• not sure if activated yet
• Is public lab ready for a large amount of imagery, once they do activate?
• see MapMill, below
• getting together the OSM layer
• Tasking has 2 projects up, welcoming more folk from HOT and DIgital Globe. Will get basemap in shape.

MapMill 1 vs. 2: BP spill origin in 2010

• https://github.com/publiclab/mapmill/issues/58 -- issues in MapMill 2
• MapMill 1 needs back-end upload of images. MapMill 2 allows web-based upload, but is buggy
• https://github.com/publiclab/mapmill/releases - initial 2.0 release?
• Sandy fork of MapMill: https://github.com/wonderchook/mapmill (best guess?)
• MapMill 2 has geocoding + maps of images based on EXIF GPS data
• https://mapmill.org/sites/15/ (example)
• https://mapmill.org/
• This is a new Civil Air Patrol batch, so there will be a learning curve.
• Schuyler is helping out!
• Willow: if you or anyone you know needs Amazon AWS she can put you in touch

Sophie from Northeastern U -- http://Cartosco.pe -- have created a platform similar to/inspired by MapMill

• organized by "tasks" with questions/answers to label
• Map task. Marking structures + buildings
• Cartoscope: http://cartosco.pe
• wondering how to plug in
• system is not specific to Harvey but interested in helping out
• Cartosco.pe seeks images, they do have dataset for Colorado, and for Algal Blooms. But they want more images, any images flown over Harvey OpenStreetMaps

Request from Coast Guard to track pollution - via Willow

• only accepts data in spreadsheet form
• SBTF, Humanity Road have been tracking social media for requests for help.
• Translators w/out borders
• Spreadsheets on 12h cycle to Coast Guard
• Coast Guard asking for pollution updates

Pollution data tracking (re above Coast Guard request)

• requested column headers:
  • description of the event
  • type of release
  • agent released
  • location
  • amount of release
• Questions
  • what geographic scope?
  • where to prioritize?
  • is there a need for training by the coast guard requester?
• Current information sources around pollution:
  • SkyTruth Alerts
  • Gulf Restoration Network
• Potential information sources around pollution:
  • HOT tracing refineries
  • Storm water tracking
  • Photo monitoring
  • Civil Air Patrol
• Steps
  • ask Coast Guard about the questions
  • connect to existing info sources
  • set up workflow between sources and spreadsheet
  • activate potential sources as needed

OpenStreetMap tasking

OSM is mostly on residential and commercial areas. Would it be useful for a comprehensive infrastructure? Are there particular geographic regions to identify and focus on? HOT can trace refinery infrastructure. Is that useful? What would we be looking for and where?

• http://tasks.openstreetmap.us/project/105
• http://tasks.openstreetmap.us/project/104
• Stormwater page for Public Lab (https://publiclab.org/wiki/stormwater) to track particular instances of flooding. People doing timelapse or photo monitoring with hunting cameras (can get wet but not submerged) * Weather-proof, but not waterproof. These can be left out with AA batteries for weeks. Check on change over time.
• Where should things be focused? Gulf Restoration Network in touch with New Orleans PL groups. GRN might be good to structure this (system for local reporting), know where to focus. HOT and Coast Guard might define where to prioritize, PL might put call out to monitor.

SkyTruth Alerts

• aggregates environmental reporting by location.
• Map interface. http://alerts.skytruth.org/
• Has RSS feed, can embed maps: http://alerts.skytruth.org/embed?l=28.7209,-95.6088,30.2747,-93.6862

Potentially useful maps about where flooding is happening around Harvey?

• https://tailwindlabs.com/flood-map/, https://tailwindlabs.com/flood-map/houston/#14/29.8000/-95.4000

Willow to set up workflow between the groups and a spreadsheet.

Public Lab can offer to amplify, connect to GRN, host wiki pages if needed, happy to host more calls as well.

HOT can trace imagery.

Possibly relevant longer-term ongoing projects at PL:

• https://publiclab.org/wiki/timelapse
• https://publiclab.org/wiki/photo-monitoring
• https://publiclab.org/wiki/stormwater

Financial assistance (where to donate)

• Portlight Inclusive Disaster Strategies
• Central Texas Food Bank Foundation
• Texas Diaper Bank
• Houston Food Bank
• Galveston food bank
• Corpus Christi food bank
• Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County

Check-in coming soon about access to Gilbert's spreadsheet (in agenda)

Copying from the NICAR Listserv:

Just wanted to highlight the work by Matt Dempsey at the Houston Chronicle in creating a map of flooded streets. A great service to residents, and smart leveraging of the resources that are available (social media, crowd sourcing, Google Maps) in the middle of chaos.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricaneharvey/article/These-are-the-roads-that-are-closed-in-Houston-12003482.php

Claudia Koerner

Some Public Lab goals

• MapMill, making it more modular
• a clear on-ramp for MapMill, has the potential to be transformative (see https://publiclab.org/tag/software-outreach)

Humanity Road Sitreps

• (Possible place to post/repost these resources)
• @humanityroad and @digihums

REQUESTS

Jeff make SkyTruth/GRN email intro with Willow (many more, above)

Questions