Mapping project assists humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of the Turkey and Syria earthquake

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March 9, 2023 Students at ASU YouthMappers Use Geospatial Data to Help Organizations Respond to Disaster

From a conference room on the ASU campus in Tempe, a group of students has found a way to help survivors of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The students are members of ASU’s YouthMappers, part of a rapidly growing global network of 354 branch campuses in 72 countries that have designated areas in the hardest-hit areas of the two countries.

The United Nations estimated that 1.5 million people were left homeless in the aftermath of the February 6 disaster.

“They (humanitarian groups) need to know what’s going on and where it’s going,” said Patricia Solis, an ASU branch faculty instructor in the group. Solis is Co-Founder and Director of YouthMappers.

“By making communities and the built environment visible, they can respond better,” said Solis, who is also the executive director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at ASU.

In the weeks following the earthquake, buildings were flattened and roads smashed. There has been a major infrastructural failure across both countries. Without maps, it would have been impossible for charitable organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross to find people and provide them with food, shelter, and medical supplies.

“It was an amazing opportunity to be able to help those who provide humanitarian aid,” said Brian Lipa, President of YouthMappers ASU. “And do it all from afar.”

Mapping meetings

Every Friday at noon for the past few weeks, Lipa — along with about a dozen members of the YouthMappers ASU — has gathered at the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health to do some marathon mapping, or as they like to call it, “Mabby’s Hour.” “

There, the student-led group used geospatial data—time-based information about specific locations in Syria and Turkey—to respond to the natural disaster.

The team used Open Street Map – an open source platform that combines satellite imagery and computing technologies to provide free, accessible and up-to-date maps of the world.

Anyone can contribute to the platform and use it in myriad ways. For example, recent images can be compared to old images to identify changes to the Earth’s surface, an ability that is especially useful after a natural disaster such as an earthquake.

NGOs and aid organizations can create tasks related to their specific data needs, which are then made available to the Open Street Map community for completion.

Maps are available and everyone can access them at the same time. ASU students worked alongside students around the world, contributing to, creating, and adding spatial data to tasks in progress.

Once the maps are complete, they are formally verified to ensure accuracy before being released to charitable organizations.

“We’re working with cartographers all over the world and updating maps as quickly as we can,” said Natalia Arruda, a graduate student in urban planning in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Open Street Map can identify buildings that have fallen onto the road and provide information about the condition of roads that may not be operable.

“It’s amazing that there were places where there were no roads at all,” said Lipa, a graduate student in urban and environmental planning in ASU’s College of Sustainability.

Students can identify alternative routes so that charitable groups can reach those in need. The technology can also locate large public spaces such as stadiums, where temporary shelters can be created.

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