Using Visualization to help relief efforts in Haiti

San Diego State University’s visualization lab is working with the U.S. Navy and Google to help relief efforts in Haiti. Normally the U.S. Navy uses P-3 Orion aircraft to hunt submarines. Now the Navy is taking video from these same places as the are flying over Haiti. This video is used to help determine which roads and bridges in Haiti are still available for use. From the article:

SDSU and other groups in the project then plot the location with icons. The team determines where buildings, hospitals and refugee camps are through Google’s mapping application, and that information is provided for crews with GPS.

This kind of mapping isn’t new, as it’s been done in other disasters. But the information has been kept to a relatively select few in this particular case. It’s open to anybody who wants it or who needs it.

via : Navy, SDSU Team Up For Disaster Zone Mapping

This story written by Paul Adams

Paul Adams leads an award-winning, diverse contractor team that runs a federal high performance computing facility where he has worked for 17 years. He loves getting his hands on the latest visualization and computer hardware, astronomy, aerospace engineering, working with the poor, and ringing cowbells.