We have all been struck by the magnitude of the crisis in Haiti. What most of don't realize is how difficult the rescue, recovery and rebuilding process is when there aren't any adequate maps. Dedicated people from the open source community have put in countless hours over the past two weeks to build a solid foundation of maps and data to help in this effort. Below are some examples of their work.
Our first map is a simple view using Open Street Map. You can zoom in and out with this map and drag it around to show other parts of Haiti, or even other parts of the world. I have configured this map to center on the island of Hispanola, the western portion of which is Haiti.
To give you an idea of just how much effort has gone into improving the map quality for Haiti, take a look at the image below. It shows the map detail before the earthquake. Very few streets, buildings and other points of interest were visible. Now click on the radio button to show the same area after just a few days.
The following map will show various layers of data that are helping people to manage the crisis in Haiti, by displaying where hospitals and refugee camps, and giving indication as to how many buildings have been destroyed. This map is centered on downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
