Abstract
Shortly after the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010, Google and the satellite imagery provider GeoEye released images demonstrating the level of destruction inflicted by the disaster. These images helped those on the outside grasp the severe consequences of the earthquake, but more importantly the availability of high-resolution imagery yielded opportunities for humanitarian organisations in the aftermath of this disaster. The combination of geospatial information technologies such as remote sensing, satellite navigation, internet mapping technologies with crowdsourcing initiatives or machine-learning algorithms was used to draft crisis maps and to facilitate distribution of scarce resources in support of response teams on the ground.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Burns R (2014) Moments of Closure in the Knowledge Politics of Digital Humanitarianism. Geoforum, 53: 52.
- 2.
Chandler D (2015) A World without Causation: Big Data and the Coming of Age of Posthumanism. Millennium, 43 (3), 833–851; Kitchin R (2014) Big Data, new epistemologies and paradigm shifts. Big Data & Society, April–June, 1–12; Frické, M (2014) Big Data and its Epistemology. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 66(4), 651–661.
- 3.
E.g. see Boyd D & Crawford K (2012) Critical Questions for Big Data: Provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 662–679.
- 4.
Zwitter A (2015) Big Data and International Relations. Ethics & International Affairs, 29(4), 377–289.
- 5.
Zwitter (2015): 379.
- 6.
Meier P (2015) Digital Humanitarians. How Big Data is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 28–29.
- 7.
Mayer-Schönberger V, Cukier K (2013) Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think. John Murray, London.
- 8.
Joerges B (1988) Large Technical Systems: Concepts and Issues In: Mayntz R, Hughes P (eds) The Development of Large Technical Systems. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main. p 9–37:24; see also Hughes, T P (1983) Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; Mayer, M & Acuto, M (2015) The Global Governance of Large Technical Systems. Millennium, 43(2), 660–683.
- 9.
The Economist (7 June 2014) Nanosats are go! Available via http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21603240-small-satellites-taking-advantage-smartphones-and-other-consumer-technologies Accessed 22 Feb 2016.
- 10.
Scanlon M (2014) There’s more to the small Skybox satellite than meets the eye. Much, much more Available via http://ideas.ted.com/theres-more-to-the-small-skybox-satellite-than-meets-the-eye-much-much-more/ Accessed 20 Jan 2016.
- 11.
Conneally P (2011) How mobile phones power disaster relief. Available via TED https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_conneally_digital_humanitarianism/transcript Accessed 14 Jan 2016.
- 12.
Meier P (2015): Digital Humanitarians. How Big Data is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 1; for and overview of the dispute over the death toll in the aftermath of the earthquake see O’Connor M R (2012) Two Years Later, Haitian Earthquake Death Toll in Dispute. Available via Columbia Journalism Review http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/one_year_later_haitian_earthqu.php Accessed Feb 2 2016.
- 13.
Corbane et al. (2011) A Comprehensive Analysis of Building Damage in the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake using High-Resolution Satellite and Aerial Imagery. Available via JRC http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC71936 Accessed Jan 18 2016.
- 14.
Meier P (2015) Digital Humanitarians. How Big Data is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
- 15.
Corbane et al. (2011).
- 16.
Morrow N et al (2011) Independent Evaluation of the Ushahidi Haiti Project. Available via https://sites.google.com/site/haitiushahidieval/news/finalreportindependentevaluationoftheushahidihaitiproject Accessed 28 Jan 2016.
- 17.
Morrow N et al.
- 18.
Olbrich P, Witjes N (2016) Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Big Data: Commercial Satellite Imagery and its Promise to Speed and Transparency (forthcoming); Meier P (2015) Virtual Aid to Nepal. Using Artificial Intelligence in Disaster Relief. Available via Foreign Policy. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/nepal/2015-06-01/virtual-aid-nepal Accessed 13 Jan 2016.
- 19.
Tomnod.com Available via http://www.old.tomnod.com/?q=technology Accessed 22 Feb 2016.
- 20.
Meier P (2 Nov 2011) Crowdsourcing Satellite Imagery Tagging to Support UNHCR in Somalia Available via http://blog.standbytaskforce.com/2011/11/02/crowdsourcing-satellite-imagery-tagging-to-support-unhcr-in-somalia/ Accessed 25 Feb 2016.
- 21.
DigitalGlobe (5 May 2014) Crowdsourcing Malaysia Flight #MH370 – Campaign Comes To a Close. Available via http://www.digitalglobeblog.com/2014/05/05/crowdsourcingmalaysianflightthankyou/ Accessed 25 Feb 2016.
- 22.
International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” Available via https://www.disasterscharter.org/web/guest/home;jsessionid=7E70C331AFEC95A3FB5D9CC9E068B700.intlcharter-prod4040 Accessed 25 Feb 2016.
- 23.
Raymond N, Card B (2015) Applying Humanitarian Principles to Current Uses of Information Communication Technologies: Gaps in Doctrine and Challenges to Practice. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Available via http://hhi.harvard.edu/publications/applying-humanitarian-principles-current-uses-information-communication-technologies Accessed 22 Jan 2016.
- 24.
Duffield M (2013) Disaster-Resilience in the Network Age Access-Denial and the Rise of Cyber-Humanitarianism. DIIS Working Paper, No. 23. Available via www.diis.dk/files/media/publications/import/extra/wp2013-33_disaster-resilience-cyber-age_duffield_web.pdf Accessed Feb 03 2013; see also Sandvik K B, Gabrielsen Jumbert M, Karlsrud J & Kaufmann M (2014) Humanitarian technology: a critical research agenda. International Review of the Red Cross, 96(893), 219–242.
- 25.
Duffield M (2013).
- 26.
Gilbert M (2010) Theorizing digital and urban inequalities. Information, communication & society 13(7):1002.
- 27.
Bott M, Young G (2012) The Role of Crowdsourcing for Better Governance in International Development. The Fletcher Journal of Human Security 27: 54.
- 28.
DiMaggio P, Hargittai E, Neuman W R, & Shafer S (2004) Digital inequality: From unequal access to differentiated use. In Neckerman K (Ed.), Social inequality. New York, NY: Russell Sage: 355–400.
- 29.
Burns R (2015) Rethinking Big Data in Digital Humanitarianism: Practices, Epistemologies, and Social Relations. GeoJournal 80: 477–490.
- 30.
Piccinini C (2014) Communicating Agencies’ Humanitarianism in Natural Disaster and Armed Conflicts: Differences, Challenges, and Dilemmas. Journalism and Mass Communication 4(10): 603–623.
- 31.
Crawford K, Finn M (2015) The limits of crisis data: analytical and ethical challenges of using social and mobile data to understand disaster. GeoJournal 80: 498.
- 32.
Meier P (2015) Digital Humanitarians. How Big Data is Changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 11.
- 33.
Crawford K, Finn M (2015) The limits of crisis data: analytical and ethical challenges of using social and mobile data to understand disaster. GeoJournal 80: 499.
- 34.
Raymond N, Card B (2015) Applying Humanitarian Principles to Current Uses of Information Communication Technologies: Gaps in Doctrine and Challenges to Practice. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Available via http://hhi.harvard.edu/publications/applying-humanitarian-principles-current-uses-information-communication-technologies Accessed 22 Jan 2016.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Witjes, N., Olbrich, P., Rebasso, I. (2017). Big Data from Outer Space: Opportunities and Challenges for Crisis Response. In: Al-Ekabi, C., Baranes, B., Hulsroj, P., Lahcen, A. (eds) Yearbook on Space Policy 2015. Yearbook on Space Policy. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-4860-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-4860-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna
Print ISBN: 978-3-7091-4859-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-4860-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)