Re: [HOT] Probing interest in HA/DR Intelligence Exercise

[Dion Houston]

I worked with the Canadian Army when I was deployed to Afghanistan.  The
capability they brought was no joke.  Thanks for pointing me to that
article.  I think I saw it before, but it's a reminder we're all on one
team for HA/DR.

I am very interested in any Canadian Army points of contact as well.  Many
things are easier working with Canadians, and I'm sure they have a lot of
valuable lessons learned as well.

Respectfully,

Dion

On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 8:28 PM, Heather Leson 
wrote:

> Thanks Dion.
>
> A number of community folks have been leaders and participants in Camp
> Roberts (another exercise). Preparedness and building spaces are very key
> to evolving. Plus, Hawaii ; )
>
> And a reminder, the Canadian Forces used OSM during the Nepal response:
>
>
> http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/news/article.page?doc=finding-the-way-geomatic-support-team-creates-maps-in-nepal/i99x64lh
>
>
> Heather
>
> Heather Leson
> heatherle...@gmail.com
> Twitter: HeatherLeson
> Blog: textontechs.com
>
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 9:01 AM, Dion Houston 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I discovered this list during the Nepal Earthquake situation, and it
>> provided a lot of key information we needed as part of the U.S. government
>> response.  As a bit of background, I'm the Deputy Intelligence Officer for
>> the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, the highest level U.S. Army
>> logistics/sustainment command for the Pacific Command Area of Operations.
>> Our unit has responded to multiple disasters in the region.
>>
>> For those unfamiliar with the role of intelligence, in HA/DR scenarios we
>> provide analysis on weather, terrain, and other things that can affect
>> operations.  Depending on the location, we also assist with the security of
>> our forces.
>>
>> This year, we had our second intelligence exercise called PERSPICUOUS
>> PROVIDER here in Hawaii.  We had subordinate sustainment and military
>> police units, as well as simulated engineering assets, and other units.
>> Next year we would like to expand the focus to more properly simulate a
>> complete U.S. response to a large scale incident.
>>
>> Because this is an intelligence exercise, I think some participation from
>> the HOT community would be useful.  The plus side to us is we can train our
>> personnel with realistic data and experiences from people and organizations
>> who have "walked the walk."  The plus side to the community is you have the
>> ability to improve the way coordinate efforts for the next combined relief
>> effort.  For example, we have military cartographers who will be
>> participating.
>>
>> Right now this is in the seeing if there is any interest stage.  The
>> exercise is (very) tentatively set for the first week in February 2016 at
>> Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. If you have any interest in becoming involved
>> (either in planning or participating), please let me know.  My official
>> mail is dion.a.houston@mail.mil .  A write up of this years exercise
>> is at:
>> http://www.army.mil/article/144136/Intelligence_Soldiers_focus_on_sustainment_and_humanitarian_aid_situations/
>> (I'm in the forefront on the second picture!)
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Dion
>>
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>>
>>
>
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Re: [HOT] Probing interest in HA/DR Intelligence Exercise

[Heather Leson]

Thanks Dion.

A number of community folks have been leaders and participants in Camp
Roberts (another exercise). Preparedness and building spaces are very key
to evolving. Plus, Hawaii ; )

And a reminder, the Canadian Forces used OSM during the Nepal response:

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/news/article.page?doc=finding-the-way-geomatic-support-team-creates-maps-in-nepal/i99x64lh


Heather

Heather Leson
heatherle...@gmail.com
Twitter: HeatherLeson
Blog: textontechs.com

On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 9:01 AM, Dion Houston  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I discovered this list during the Nepal Earthquake situation, and it
> provided a lot of key information we needed as part of the U.S. government
> response.  As a bit of background, I'm the Deputy Intelligence Officer for
> the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, the highest level U.S. Army
> logistics/sustainment command for the Pacific Command Area of Operations.
> Our unit has responded to multiple disasters in the region.
>
> For those unfamiliar with the role of intelligence, in HA/DR scenarios we
> provide analysis on weather, terrain, and other things that can affect
> operations.  Depending on the location, we also assist with the security of
> our forces.
>
> This year, we had our second intelligence exercise called PERSPICUOUS
> PROVIDER here in Hawaii.  We had subordinate sustainment and military
> police units, as well as simulated engineering assets, and other units.
> Next year we would like to expand the focus to more properly simulate a
> complete U.S. response to a large scale incident.
>
> Because this is an intelligence exercise, I think some participation from
> the HOT community would be useful.  The plus side to us is we can train our
> personnel with realistic data and experiences from people and organizations
> who have "walked the walk."  The plus side to the community is you have the
> ability to improve the way coordinate efforts for the next combined relief
> effort.  For example, we have military cartographers who will be
> participating.
>
> Right now this is in the seeing if there is any interest stage.  The
> exercise is (very) tentatively set for the first week in February 2016 at
> Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. If you have any interest in becoming involved
> (either in planning or participating), please let me know.  My official
> mail is dion.a.houston@mail.mil .  A write up of this years exercise
> is at:
> http://www.army.mil/article/144136/Intelligence_Soldiers_focus_on_sustainment_and_humanitarian_aid_situations/
> (I'm in the forefront on the second picture!)
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dion
>
> ___
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>
>
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[HOT] Probing interest in HA/DR Intelligence Exercise

[Dion Houston]

Hi all,

I discovered this list during the Nepal Earthquake situation, and it
provided a lot of key information we needed as part of the U.S. government
response.  As a bit of background, I'm the Deputy Intelligence Officer for
the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, the highest level U.S. Army
logistics/sustainment command for the Pacific Command Area of Operations.
Our unit has responded to multiple disasters in the region.

For those unfamiliar with the role of intelligence, in HA/DR scenarios we
provide analysis on weather, terrain, and other things that can affect
operations.  Depending on the location, we also assist with the security of
our forces.

This year, we had our second intelligence exercise called PERSPICUOUS
PROVIDER here in Hawaii.  We had subordinate sustainment and military
police units, as well as simulated engineering assets, and other units.
Next year we would like to expand the focus to more properly simulate a
complete U.S. response to a large scale incident.

Because this is an intelligence exercise, I think some participation from
the HOT community would be useful.  The plus side to us is we can train our
personnel with realistic data and experiences from people and organizations
who have "walked the walk."  The plus side to the community is you have the
ability to improve the way coordinate efforts for the next combined relief
effort.  For example, we have military cartographers who will be
participating.

Right now this is in the seeing if there is any interest stage.  The
exercise is (very) tentatively set for the first week in February 2016 at
Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. If you have any interest in becoming involved
(either in planning or participating), please let me know.  My official
mail is dion.a.houston@mail.mil .  A write up of this years exercise is
at:
http://www.army.mil/article/144136/Intelligence_Soldiers_focus_on_sustainment_and_humanitarian_aid_situations/
(I'm in the forefront on the second picture!)

Thanks!

Dion
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Re: [HOT] key problem with RS333

[Blake Girardot]

Hi Dan,

It is because of the ID=* key.

I would just ignore the warning.

I don't know why the ID is there, but I assume whoever included it had a 
reason so before doing anything about it you would have to research what 
why the key was there in the first place, it looks like it has been 
there since the road was first mapped in 2012.


I would guess it came in as part of an import, someone one this list 
probably knows exactly :)


Either way, you are safe to ignore that particular warning in this case 
and leave the ID=* key.


Thank you for checking!

Cheers,
Blake



On 8/25/2015 2:55 AM, Daniel Specht wrote:

On project 1082 (Bangui),  the road RS333 seems to have an "invalid key"
or "uncommon short key". This can be seen on the tasks on RS333 such as 129.

--
Dan


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[HOT] key problem with RS333

[Daniel Specht]

On project 1082 (Bangui),  the road RS333 seems to have an "invalid key" or
"uncommon short key". This can be seen on the tasks on RS333 such as 129.

-- 
Dan
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Re: [HOT] New JOSM Plugin - Imagery Brightness/Contrast, Sharpen, RGB Adjust - among others

[Blake Girardot]

Hi all,

I just wanted to follow up:

The plugin author fixed the issue and this plugin now works as expected 
for me.


I just used the "Update Plugins" button in the JOSM plugin preferences, 
it downloaded a new version of the plugin and after a restart, 
everything worked as expected.


It is worth checking out for any JOSM users.

Cheers,
Blake


On 8/23/2015 3:06 AM, Mike Thompson wrote:

Blake,

Thanks for the announcement. This will be a very valuable addition to
what is already a great tool (JOSM).  I have often found myself wanting
to adjust the contrast of imagery to "look" into the shadows.

MIke

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 4:25 PM, FOFANA BAZO BAGNOUMANA
mailto:fofana.13b...@gmail.com>> wrote:


Hi Blake,
i just try this plugins but as you say it don't work very well

2015-08-22 19:12 GMT+00:00 Blake Girardot mailto:bgirar...@gmail.com>>:

Hi all,

A very useful plugin was released last week for JOSM that should
allow for the adjustment of imagery to make it easier for mapping.

The Plugin is called "RasterFilters" because it applies
"filters" to "raster" layers, but for us non experts, that just
means we can adjust brightness/contrast, sharpen and otherwise
adjust imagery layers for mapping :)

The full details on how to use the plugin are here:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM/Plugins/RasterFilters

So far it crashes for me and I have not gotten it to work but I
encourage JOSM users to give it a try and provide feedback to
the JOSM developers if you run into any trouble and I'd love to
hear if anyone gets it working what OS and Java versions you are
using in case that is my problem.

Cheers and happy mapping
blake


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--
*Fofana B. Bazo,
*
*Géographe, contributeur OSM
*
*Volontaire International de la*
*Francophonie *
*Lomé/Togo*
*tel: (00228)93549215*
*00228 93705132*

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Re: [HOT] Validation

[David Toy]

Hi Jarmo. Welcome!

My introduction/onboarding to HOT was almost identical to Jarmo's - and I
can relate very clearly to all the points he has raised. I suspect that
there are a few more lurkers on this list who will be similar.

Pierre G's document suggests renaming the 'mark as done' button to 'submit
for review'.

A simplification of terms / altered workflow would have helped me
initially. Taking the example of the done button, 'submit for review'
implies that:
- a) it's ok to make a mistake getting started - someone will catch it, and
- b) I should expect feedback

This helps with Jarmo's first and second scenarios, but also softens the
blow when (your first) task is coldly invalidated with only four words of
explanation. (Validators: that's not a criticism - I understand the time
pressure.)

Also, not all users will read the docs - while training resources are
useful, these little nudges of understanding help all users - even the new
ones who enthusiastically started but didn't read the instructions.

David

On 24 August 2015 at 17:18, Jarmo Kivekäs  wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I've been lurking on the mailing list for a while, but I'm still fairly
> new to HOT. I though I'd pitch in.
>
> I definitely recognized myself from Martin's write up as belonging to
> the set of contributors who commit changes but don't mark tiles as done.
> Below are some reasons why I've not marked tiles as complete in the past.
>
> 1. I think part of the reason is that I started out mapping on my own (I
> haven't found a local community, nor was I introduced to mapping on a
> mapathon). Therefore I haven't been able to just quickly ask someone
> advice about something I'm unsure about. In these cases I've usually
> left a comment in the tasking manager about whatever I was unsure about,
> mapped the rest, but not marked the tile as done.
>
> Not marking the tile done is me being conservative, I guess. As a new
> mapper it is currently difficult to get feedback on the quality of your
> mapping, you pretty much needs to actively seek it out. Getting
> notifications when there are new comments on tiles you've worked on
> would be nice.
>
> 2. When parts of a region are already mapped (probably form before the
> activation was created) but the tiles that are already mapped are not
> marked as done. I'm reluctant to mark a grid as done without making any
> changes to it, even if it seemingly fills all the criterion for the
> task. Especially when the grid has been locked my multiple users in the
> past. "They didn't think it was as done, I'm probably missing
> something." I realize that this thinking only propagates the problem,
> since I'll just be one more user on the list.
>
> 3. Grids can be pretty large. Sometimes you just don't manage to map it
> completely in a short sitting. I know grids can be split, but...
>
> 4. Sometimes I'll for example only be mapping roads. Doing this will
> result in many tiles being checked out and changesets are generated, but
> no tiles are actually being finished.
>
>
> -- Jarmo
>
>
> On 24.08.2015 16:37, Martin Dittus wrote:
> >
> >> On 24 Aug 2015, at 11:22, john whelan  wrote:
> >>
> >> I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done
> some work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd
> rather catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident
> enough to mark a tile complete.
> >
> > Considering better workflows for “incomplete” submissions is well
> worthwhile. This week I found that about half of all HOT contributors never
> mark their first task as “done” although they contributed edits to the map.
> >
> > I’ve written it up here, with stats and a brief discussion:
> > https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dekstop/diary/35649
> >
> > m.
>
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Re: [HOT] Validation

[Suzan Reed]

Are you referring to one time mappers or any who map? The following refers to 
both: 

I often work on a tile and don’t have enough time to finish, know there’s more 
that needs to be done, or ask for a review by another mapper, so I don’t mark 
it Done. When there are a lot of buildings I don’t do the tile all in one 
sitting. There are many reasons for checking out a tile and not finishing it. I 
also leave a Comment describing my work and what more needs doing. It’s helpful 
to scroll through the list of contributors to one tile to see how many have 
worked on it and to read other’s comments. Encouraging Comments would be good. 

The “lock” “unlock” function is not intuitive. “Check out” and “check in” would 
be easier to understand. 

Suzan 


On Aug 24, 2015, at 6:37 AM, Martin Dittus  wrote:


> On 24 Aug 2015, at 11:22, john whelan  wrote:
> 
> I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done some 
> work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd rather 
> catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident enough to mark 
> a tile complete.

Considering better workflows for “incomplete” submissions is well worthwhile. 
This week I found that about half of all HOT contributors never mark their 
first task as “done” although they contributed edits to the map. 

I’ve written it up here, with stats and a brief discussion:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dekstop/diary/35649

m.
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Re: [HOT] Validation

[Jarmo Kivekäs]

Hi!

I've been lurking on the mailing list for a while, but I'm still fairly
new to HOT. I though I'd pitch in.

I definitely recognized myself from Martin's write up as belonging to
the set of contributors who commit changes but don't mark tiles as done.
Below are some reasons why I've not marked tiles as complete in the past.

1. I think part of the reason is that I started out mapping on my own (I
haven't found a local community, nor was I introduced to mapping on a
mapathon). Therefore I haven't been able to just quickly ask someone
advice about something I'm unsure about. In these cases I've usually
left a comment in the tasking manager about whatever I was unsure about,
mapped the rest, but not marked the tile as done.

Not marking the tile done is me being conservative, I guess. As a new
mapper it is currently difficult to get feedback on the quality of your
mapping, you pretty much needs to actively seek it out. Getting
notifications when there are new comments on tiles you've worked on
would be nice.

2. When parts of a region are already mapped (probably form before the
activation was created) but the tiles that are already mapped are not
marked as done. I'm reluctant to mark a grid as done without making any
changes to it, even if it seemingly fills all the criterion for the
task. Especially when the grid has been locked my multiple users in the
past. "They didn't think it was as done, I'm probably missing
something." I realize that this thinking only propagates the problem,
since I'll just be one more user on the list.

3. Grids can be pretty large. Sometimes you just don't manage to map it
completely in a short sitting. I know grids can be split, but...

4. Sometimes I'll for example only be mapping roads. Doing this will
result in many tiles being checked out and changesets are generated, but
no tiles are actually being finished.


-- Jarmo


On 24.08.2015 16:37, Martin Dittus wrote:
> 
>> On 24 Aug 2015, at 11:22, john whelan  wrote:
>>
>> I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done some 
>> work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd rather 
>> catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident enough to 
>> mark a tile complete.
> 
> Considering better workflows for “incomplete” submissions is well worthwhile. 
> This week I found that about half of all HOT contributors never mark their 
> first task as “done” although they contributed edits to the map. 
> 
> I’ve written it up here, with stats and a brief discussion:
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dekstop/diary/35649
> 
> m.

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Re: [HOT] Validation

[john whelan]

I also found that in a group of GIS students doing a maperthon who were new
to HOT perhaps a quarter marked a tile complete although a number of tiles
were complete.

Cheerio John

On 24 August 2015 at 09:37, Martin Dittus  wrote:

>
> > On 24 Aug 2015, at 11:22, john whelan  wrote:
> >
> > I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done
> some work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd
> rather catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident
> enough to mark a tile complete.
>
> Considering better workflows for “incomplete” submissions is well
> worthwhile. This week I found that about half of all HOT contributors never
> mark their first task as “done” although they contributed edits to the map.
>
> I’ve written it up here, with stats and a brief discussion:
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dekstop/diary/35649
>
> m.
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Re: [HOT] Validation

[Martin Dittus]

> On 24 Aug 2015, at 11:22, john whelan  wrote:
> 
> I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done some 
> work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd rather 
> catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident enough to mark 
> a tile complete.

Considering better workflows for “incomplete” submissions is well worthwhile. 
This week I found that about half of all HOT contributors never mark their 
first task as “done” although they contributed edits to the map. 

I’ve written it up here, with stats and a brief discussion:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dekstop/diary/35649

m.
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Re: [HOT] Validation

[john whelan]

Pierre's comments align much more closely to my own thoughts than the
proposed current HOT training course and seem well thought out.

I'd also like to see a third option on the tasking manger "I've done some
work but not completed the tile could someone review it please."  I'd
rather catch errors early and some new mappers may not feel confident
enough to mark a tile complete.

Thanks John

On 24 August 2015 at 02:07, Pierre GIRAUD  wrote:

> Interesting.
>
> For your information, I've recently written a document in which I
> describe what I think could be the future enhancements in the tasking
> manager.
> Specifically, there's a section about validation you may want to read.
>
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l3PwPbUPfXptQumZK_a_xioPYiGXAAw8JpKQhADmsJk/edit?usp=sharing
>
> Regards,
> Pierre
>
> On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 6:40 AM, Suzan Reed  wrote:
> > Friends,
> >
> > I would like to see some boundaries set on who validates. Someone with
> less than 50 changesets should not be validating, or even marking a tile
> Done. Sometimes I think new mapper validate and invalidate just for the fun
> of it. They quickly validate or invalidate and don’t map or complete a tile.
> >
> > Would it be possible to require a validator to !. complete the
> validation course, and 2. have a set number of tiles completed? I know this
> will probably be an arbitrary number and we can all argue all the many
> benchmarks, but at least set it high enough so newbies are validating.
> >
> > I’ve often thought the Tasking Manager could use a little tweaking so
> the Done, Validate, and Invalidate buttons are more intuitively understood.
> I’ve seen newbies mark a tile Done when they finish their session. I think
> I might have done that in my first days, too.
> >
> > Like John’s idea of having a designated validation person or team
> watching for tiles that need validation in a specific project.  Blake
> Girdardot actively involved in the Myanmar mapping, and it was very helpful.
> >
> > Possibly the validation course needs a bit of editing. These modules are
> up for comments. Currently a team is editing for tone and clarity, but it
> is not integrated into the modules yet.
> >
> > Suzan
> >
> >
> >
> > On Aug 23, 2015, at 4:34 PM, john whelan  wrote:
> >
> > I've been looking through the new courses and one thing that hit me was
> my idea of validation seems quite different to the concept I've seen so far
> in the course so I think we should start by deciding what we want our tile
> validators to do.
> >
> > These are my thoughts.
> >
> > Higher level validation can use different tools over a wider area.
> >
> > First comment is what I've found to be the most successful is not to
> declare something invalid unless its really bad.  You want the mapper to
> feel welcome, you want them to map again, INVALID missing a hut doesn't do
> that.  I've had people send me that on one of my tiles by the way, just map
> the hut and move on.
> >
> > Generally I'll sit on one or more projects and validate just those
> projects as the tiles are done.
> >
> > The objective is to give feedback within 24 hrs or less to the mapper.
> >
> > This feedback serves two purposes, one we are interested in your mapping
> and second the earlier I can catch someone making a mistake the fewer
> errors I'll need to fix in the future.
> >
> > In Cameroon using these techniques we've actually managed to completely
> map and validate several projects.
> >
> > Note to Project managers if you want your project completed get yourself
> a validator who validates the tiles as they are done.
> >
> > When you start on a new project take a look at the mapper, if they've
> mapped twice three months ago then don't waste your time sending them
> emails just clean up.
> >
> > Personally I only use JOSM when validating, you do have to press the
> validate button for it to do its thing by the way.  It will only
> automatically validate those edits you have made when you upload not the
> rest.
> >
> > Having said that there is a place for iD when validating, two of the
> mappers I work with validate as a team one does the careful visual checking
> in iD, the other runs JOSM over the end product.
> >
> > The quality of the imagery used seems to have an impact on the quality
> of the mapping.  Especially with new mappers, less than ideal imagery means
> validation is slow and tedious.
> >
> > I think we have to ask ourselves about how much we are prepared to pay
> for what quality of work.  ie service level agreement.
> >
> > When we have a very large number of new mappers who are making lots of
> errors then sometimes the judgement call is a JOSM validation to clean up
> the worst errors and tag it "validated in JOSM" so if someone has the time
> they can go back over it.  Select two top tiles and two base tiles and
> bring them into JOSM, now download the area between directly from OSM run
> the validator tool and do the search checks, ie area=yes etc.  Its fast and
> picks up

Re: [HOT] Locations of Artisinal Mining Sites in the DRC?

[Claire Halleux]

Hi Ray,

If you are interested by artisanal mining sites in DRC, I'd suggest you
also check (if not yet) this great IPIS project displaying illegal taxation
and armed group presence on artisanal mining sites.
Last year 591 mines out of the 1088 they visited reported the presence of
at least one armed group, this can give some kind of scale. I'm guessing
they are now preparing the 2015 update.
Report:
http://ipisresearch.be/publication/analysis-interactive-map-artisanal-mining-areas-eastern-drc-may-2014-update/
Dynamic map: http://www.ipisresearch.be/mapping/webmapping/drcongo/

Unfortunately it doesn't contain (yet?) any info on now compliancy status.
That would be an interesting added value info to join and share.
If you get any news from USAID, please let us know.

That's sometimes difficult to understand why an official project factsheet
cannot include links towards the full report and data but maybe it isn't
even ready yet...
I'll be sharing your concern to some IPIS and USAID staff in DRC and will
let you know.

Best,

Claire


Claire Halleux
+243 81 611 6998 (Kinshasa, DRC)
OpenStreetMap RDC
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

https://www.facebook.com/OpenStreetMap.RDC
http://www.hotosm.org/

On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 5:46 AM, Robert Banick  wrote:

> Hi Ray,
>
> I don’t work on conflict sites or mining certification, so take what I’m
> about to say with a grain of salt. I *do *however work in international
> aid so I have some perspective on how these projects work in general.
>
> The 140 number is probably compiled by specialized reporting staff whose
> job it is to extract and verify these numbers from specialized program
> management staff. Note that the latter will be prioritizing making the
> project work while the former will prioritize making the numbers correct
> and verifiable. Which means that the list exists but it’s probably buried
> on the project manager’s hard drive somewhere in the DRC or with luck at
> headquarters and could only be dug up with difficulty.
>
> That’s the (over-?)simplified version of How Things Tend To Work. It could
> be different on this project or in the mining certification sector.
>
> If the process sounds not at all ideal, trust me, many many people are
> away of this and trying to do better. Aid reporting is a really tricky
> compromise between not holding back program staff from doing good work with
> reporting red tape and getting the donating public information they
> deserve. In my experience very few agencies find a balance that everyone’s
> happy with. If that sounds like so many excuses, keep in mind that many
> developed world governments have only recently started to publicly release
> similar information for taxpayer funded projects despite tax revenues that
> go into the hundreds of billions or even trillions.
>
> I hope this clarifies things for you. Coming from the world of
> open-everything I couldn’t agree more that it would be great to have this
> information somewhere easily accessible.
>
> Cheers,
> Robert
>
> —
> Sent from Mailbox 
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Ray Kiddy  wrote:
>
>>
>> I was reading a report on conflict minerals.
>>
>> http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/672051.pdf
>>
>> It pointed to an USAID document about mining in the Great Lakes region
>> of Africa.
>>
>>
>> https://www.usaid.gov/democratic-republic-congo/fact-sheets/usaiddrc-fact-sheet-responsible-minerals-trade
>>
>> This contained the following statement about mining sites in the DRC:
>>
>> SELECT 2014 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
>>
>> 140 artisanal mine sites have been validated as free
>> from child labor and illegal taxation.
>>
>> Whenever I see statements like this, I always wonder about them. For
>> example, where are these 140 sites? How are these sites identified? It
>> sounds as though they went through a list of the sites, or that such a
>> list of sites exists. And it sounds as though they marked the sites
>> "yes" or "no". Where is that list? If that list did not exist before,
>> they would at least have to have a list of the 140 sites now. They
>> certainly do not seem to be publishing that or any other list. They are
>> just waving the number "140" around.
>>
>> So, does anyone have any idea how one would find the locations of any
>> of these sites, the compliant or non-compliant sites?
>>
>> I submitted the question to the USAID web site, but I think the site
>> swallowed the question. I entered the question and hit the submit
>> button and it gave me the blank form again. Which seems wrong. And I
>> have not heard from them.
>>
>> So, any ideas or suggestions?
>>
>> thanx - ray
>>
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