(6-Aug-2010) Imaging Science Haiti data usage

As compiled by Don McKeown, Distinguished Researcher in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory:

I was compiling some statistics for a report to our World Bank sponsor and thought I would share the truly amazing response we have received to the data we collected for the world-wide Haiti relief community to date. In spite of Haiti disappearing from the headlines, there is still a lot of activity. A really fantastic site to view our Lidar data developed by San Diego State University has just come on-line at:

http://www.opentopography.org/index.php/news/detail/post_january_2010_haiti_earthquake_lidar_data_now_available_via_opentopogra

In addition to ImageCat and the World Bank, there has been a tremendous utilization of data by other users. Processed data was made available via FTP server and in some cases delivered on portable hard drives. Data sets on hard drives were delivered to:

• ImageCat
• World Bank
• Google
• University at Buffalo
• Columbia University
• ITT
• Harris

As of July 2010, over 40 TB of Haiti imagery and Lidar data products have been downloaded from the RIT FTP server. Some download users were not identifiable but many were. The following list illustrates the very broad dissemination of data to the worldwide disaster response community enabled by the World Bank's insistence on open access to the Haiti data. Some examples of identified users include world leaders in data sharing and cloud computing:

• Google
• Yahoo
• Softlayer
• Amazon
• Internet Archive

US Government, commercial contractors:

• USGS
• NGA
• US Army
• US SouthCom
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• National Public Radio
• Harris
• Aerospace Corp
• SAIC
• BAE
• ITT
• ERDAS

United Nations and NGOs:

• UN SPIDER
• UN OCHA
• World Food Program
• MapAction
• CrisisCommons

International Search Engines:

• Yandex (Russia)
• Access Haiti (Haitian ISP)

Universities worldwide:

• University of California (includes UC Davis and UC San Diego)
• UNC- Charlotte
• University at Buffalo
• Purdue
• US Naval Academy
• MIT
• Ohio State
• Carnegie Mellon
• CalTech
• CalIT
• Drexel
• University System of Georgia
• University of Texas
• Hunter College (City University of NY)
• University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
• University of Twente (Netherlands)
• Osaka (Japan)
• Waterloo (Canada)
• Auckland (New Zealand)

We are also continuing to conduct research using our data. RIT received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under its RAPID program for the development of a Blue Tarp Detection Tool, an algorithm that automatically analyzes imagery and identifies the
location of blue tarps used for emergency shelters thus allowing disaster managers to locate concentrations of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). This tool is currently being configured into a standalone application for field deployment as part of NSF RAPID grant (GRANT # 1034639, Automated Target Detection Tool for Disaster Response) awarded to RIT in May 2010.

Wow, what a response! Way to go, Imaging Science team!