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.
It’s great that this information is now available to the public. But why doesn’t the article mention where to get it from? Finally found it here: http://hypercube.telascience.org/haiti/