Online mapping helps Haiti relief efforts

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When the earthquake struck Haiti last week, aid workers and geographers alike realized that there were no good maps of the country. A group of volunteers quickly sprang into action. Open Street Maps has been putting together a real-time view of what Haiti looks like on the ground. Aid organizations and rescue teams are actively using their maps to direct and coordinate relief efforts. The World’s Clark Boyd reports. Download MP3

• Haiti Open Street Map
• Ushahidi for Haiti
• Google Person Finder: Haiti Earthquake
• iPhone app for Haiti Disaster Relief

Telecommunications critical in Haiti relief effort

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“Telecommunications isn’t a luxury in emergency response. It’s core to the mission,” says Paul Margie (not pictured), US representative for the group Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF). TSF volunteers are currently on the ground in Haiti, trying to set up internet and phone access for humanitarian workers, and for locals. The World’s technology correspondent Clark Boyd speaks with anchor Jeb Sharp. Download MP3 (Photo courtesy of TSF)

• Télécoms Sans Frontières
• Ushahidi: Mapping the Crisis in Haiti
• Latest on Haiti logistics from the World Food Program
• Frontline/World: An interview with head of Haiti’s Multilink Internet Service

Tech Podcast 271: Drones, tech in crisis, and the Copenhagen Wheel

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It’s a nice line-up for the last podcast of 2009. We’ve got an item on the MIT SENSEable City Lab’s Copenhagen Wheel project. Turn your ordinary bike into an e-bike. Cool. Also, we revisit drones, and we hear all about the pluses and minuses of technologies in times of crisis, political and otherwise. PHOTO: Max Tomasinelli

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