What is going on?

This is a citizen-led monitoring of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, begun in May 2010 with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. We are using balloon mapping to capture aerial imagery of spill-affected sites.

We’re not trying to duplicate the satellite or flyover imagery (though we’re helping to coordinate some of the flyovers and trying to ensure that the data is publicly accessible). We are helping Gulf Coast residents to use balloons, kites, and other simple and inexpensive tools to produce their own documentation of the spill… and hoping that such data collection will support environmental research, policy, and legal uses in coming years.

Grassroots Mapping: Kickstarter Pitch from TungstenMonkey on Vimeo.

We're organizing mapping 'trips' to the coast. If you're interested in leading a trip, please contact us at the mailing list, and we'll help you get started. (equipment, training, finding volunteers, etc.)

Team

• Shannon Dosemagen - LA Bucket Brigade (shannon@labucketbrigade.org)
• Cesar Harada

...feel free to add your name!

Contact information

• Grassroots Mapping Mailing List - please join, this is the only way we have to reach you with meeting announcements, etc.

How can you help?

• BOATS to Chandeleur Islands and other affected areas
• Volunteers in the area to fly balloons/kites, make maps Volunteer Here
• Help sort our aerial imagery at MapMill

Equipment:

• Canon cameras or Android phones (see CameraOptions)
• Weather balloons (5 feet diameter or more)
• 100-gallon trash bags
• string, lots of string

Mapping Resources

• NOAA's latest prediction maps -- PDFs available for 24, 48, and 72 hour horizons
• Latest MODIS imagery - often cloud-obscured
• etc. mapping resources-- pulled from posts to grassrootsmapping google group

Other mapping efforts

• LA Bucket Brigade Ushahidi instance - see below for more on LAFB
• CrisisCommons: Dr. Eric Frost, "Viz Lab" at SDSU San Diego: bio, crisismapping profile
• Skytruth is doing regular analysis of satellite imagery of the spill.

LA Bucket Brigade

website - 4226 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70119 (504) 484-3433.

How-to Mapping Guides

Look at our 4-page PDF guide to get started.