Hey everyone,
First thanks to everyone that has contributed to the base mapping
thus far. Many humanitarian groups including the Red Cross,
Canadian Military, and the UN. I would much rather be mapping
than responding to the copious emails but I wanted to try and end
the discussion so we can get back to mapping.
There has been a lot of chatter about UAV imagery the disaster
imagery charter on the list serve with many accusations flying
back and forth. I in my role as the activation lead for Hurricane
Matthew, Vice-President of HOT, and GIS Lead for the American Red
Cross see no value in trying to coordinate UAV use in Haiti. As
has been said by Blake and Cristiano both of whom know more about
this subject than I HOT should focus on the things we do best and
leave coordination of UAV use and operation to UVAviators.
Yes HOT in 2010 was different and HOT members took extraordinary
measures to update the map for humanitarians. Due largely to
those efforts and later ones in the Philippines, West Africa,
Nepal, and many others HOT has become a trusted source of map
data immediately following a disaster. Groups like the ones
mentioned above have deeply integrated into their work and trust
HOT and its amazing volunteers to provide the map data. One of
the reasons HOT is trusted is because of our consistency. We
provide a very reliable service without causing a lot of drama
for the large humanitarian organizations. Throughout my time
responding to disasters over the last few years consistency is
paramount during large scale disasters.
Comparing the airspace and subsequent use of UAVs in Tanzania,
during normal "blue skies" times to the crowded chaotic airspace
in Haiti shows a lack of basic understanding of the complexity of
modern humanitarian operations. If I were empowered, which I'm
not even close to being able to do, to simply put someone in a
car or on a helicopter and send them into the affected areas I
wouldn't. Given the reports from the area from UN, Red Cross, and
other NGOs I would send food, water, and shelter kits.
HOT has declined to support Fred's effort not because we don't
think he has the capability but rather because HOT should and
must be consistent in our work. In fact, Fred flies drones
professionally and is currently under contract to fly a drone
mission in Canaan for American Red Cross prior to Hurricane
Matthew, hence he was in Haiti during the storm. We must
understand our place during large scale international disasters,
we must know the limits of our work, and we must not put the
organization at risk without ample time to study and think about
those risks.
Lastly, as things have changed in disasters in the last few years
the need to activate the imagery disaster charter has largely
gone away. HOT has fantastic relationships with imagery providers
and governments. All are often happy to provide imagery when they
are capable of doing so.
If you would like to contribute to the current mapping in Haiti
please grab a task at http://tasks.hotosm.org
On Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Cristiano Giovando
<cristiano.giova...@hotosm.org
<mailto:cristiano.giova...@hotosm.org>> wrote:
Nicolas,
As you well know HOT's strength is in pre-event baseline
mapping. We
have done some damage assessment and post-disaster mapping in the
past, but it's not easy and with controversial results.
That being said, I'm sure other responding organizations who
request
HOT baseline mapping support may still find it useful to have
high
resolution imagery of post event areas, although limited to
the range
of a small UAV. I'm not in a position to speak for them.
Again - and I'm asking you personally, please - please let's
avoid
confrontation, insinuations, and bring up past arguments. It's
absolutely not the time. If you care about Haiti and HOT,
please try
to engage with this community with a constructive, positive
and humble
approach. Long emails take effort and thinking, which now
would be
much better spent in actually doing (mapping?).
Cheers,
Cristiano
On Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 11:55 AM, nicolas chavent
<nicolas.chav...@gmail.com
<mailto:nicolas.chav...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hi Blake,
>
> Yes Fred and the Haitian dronists on the ground have skills
and extensive
> experience but little resources to keep up their work; this
did not prevent
> them from doing what they are good at. This can limit the
span of their
> action at a time where humanitarian actors need local
capacities to generate
> post disaster UAV imagery as well as satellite imagery to
carry out post
> disaster needs assessment. Support to their work can span
from small
> logistics support (rides in UNHAS, helis, plane and cars).
This is quite
> common to get such support in any sudden onset disaster
responses when
> GIS/UAV resources (leading to high impact for IM and
decision making)
> already undersized are rare, too rare.
>
> When HOT started its first field missions, we were exactly
in the same
> situation as Fred. Skilled individuals (less experimented
though) with
> adequate equipment, but with little operational resources.
We did good.
> Without the above mentioned forms of support, though our
impact would have
> been limited and the course of action for OMS in Haiti and
in other
> countries different.
>
> With the above in mind, it's weird to read that the
president of HOT US Inc
> stating that the only HOT US Inc support for Fred and this
collective of
> local Haitian dronists is only a well known list of UAV
groups and a pointer
> to UN OCHA. That's of no help.
>
> UAV are used in Tanzania by HOT US Inc in Development and
Disaster Risk
> Reduction (DRR) contexts [1]. Thanks to multi years of UAV
activities in
> Haiti, this country is no longer a terra incognita when it
comes to drones
> and there is no such thing as "UAV missions in disaster
zones with
> notoriously complicated airspaces" but an area where it's
possible to
> operate and make the difference we ought to the Haitians
and to the Haitians
> mappers/dronists who acquired part of their skills via HOT
US Inc and OSM
> folks.
>
> Do we have to understand that HOT US Inc will not help with
simple
> facilitation work with partner relief organizations working
in Haiti, some
> of those orgs (ARC, MSF etc) having representatives in the
membership or the
> Board ?
>
> Given where HOT US Inc comes from and ironically in Haiti,
this would mean a
> lot in terms of the losses of our
operational/organizational ethos and would
> raise questions about the reality of support/empowerment
schemes to local
> communities or possible conflict of interest between
members/Board members
> of HOT US Inc and other organizations.
>
> Best,
> Nicolas
>
> [1] : https://hotosm.org/projects/tanzania
<https://hotosm.org/projects/tanzania>
>
> On Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 6:42 PM, Blake Girardot
<bgirar...@gmail.com <mailto:bgirar...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Nico,
>>
>> As you say, you and Fred have extensive experience in Hait
and working
>> with international partners in Haiti. Fred is actually on
the ground
>> in Haiti. You and he would be the best to coordinate him
flying
>> missions.
>>
>> This is not something HOT does, we do not coordinate or
push for UAV
>> missions in disaster zones with notoriously complicated
airspaces. We
>> rely on, and UAV missions need to be handled, by
professionals, which
>> you and Fred are, so I expect you should be able to handle
making the
>> proper arrangements and coordinations.
>>
>> I already suggested who to contact, UAviators, they have
coordinated
>> UAV missions in disaster zones in the past numerous times in
>> conjunction with UN-OCHA. That is HOT's contact, I passed
it on to you
>> already.
>>
>> This is all HOT can do, except eagerly anticipate the
imagery Fred's
>> missions generate.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Blake
>>
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>
> --
> Nicolas Chavent
> Projet OpenStreetMap (OSM)
> Projet Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)
> Projet Espace OSM Francophone (EOF)
> Mobile (FRA): +33 (0)6 52 40 78 20
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Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
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