Mapping the world’s problems one at a time

WikiCrimes has been one of those rare projects that is very simple, very cheap to run, and yet very useful. Developed last year by the Brazilian innovator Vasco Furtado, WikiCrimes allows users to share public information about crime in their local area; the software then visualizes this data on a nice Google map. One of the assumptions behind WikiCrimes is that governments may sometimes be manipulating the crime data, so citizens would benefit from an alternative user-generated source, potentially as a means of pressuring governments into doing more to fight crime and taking preventive measures.

The biggest problem with such citizen-driven projects — and the major reason why they often come under heavy criticism by professional human rights statisticians like Patrick Ball of the Benetech Initiative — is that there is often no way to ensure the validity of reported data and thus, it’s problematic to make any policy conclusions based on it. As a footnote, it’s worth pointing out that a lot of these debates have been recently rekindled by the global success of projects like Ushahidi that leverage the power of text messaging to report on unfolding crises (Ushahidi was formed to report on last year’s crisis in Kenya and has since then been widely used elsewhere, including Al Jazeera’s reports on the Gaza conflict).

Setting the arcane arguments about statistical validity aside for a moment, I was pleased to find out (by way of an article in NewScientist) that Furtado has helped to roll out yet another mapping tool, this time with a focus on health, welfare and education. More from NS:

As went to press, a total of 89,649 cases of cholera and 4041 deaths had been reported in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began in August. But new cholera cases have fallen from around 8000 a week at the start of the year to 2151 in the first week of March. A central control centre was also recently set up in Harare with help from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health.

Nevertheless, collecting data is still proving difficult, says Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization. “A crucial element for the control of cholera in Zimbabwe is the need to improve access to information, and the monitoring of new cases and suspected cases in the country,” he says. “Any system that improves data collecting and sharing would be beneficial.”

That’s where WikiMapAid could help. Users can create markers to show the location of places such as schools, hospitals or refugee centres, and they can attach links to video or photos of that place, or post a report of the current situation in the area. Similar services, such as the website HealthMap, have recently been developed to map disease outbreaks around the world.

It was particularly good to see Rupert Douglas-Bate, one of the people behind this initiative, address concerns of those worrying about data validity:

 

As with all wikis, the integrity of the data will depend on the people supplying it. Although moderators will edit and keep track of postings, Douglas-Bate admits unreliable reporting could be a problem. To lessen this risk, Furtado is developing an algorithm that will rate the reputation of users according to whether the information they post is corroborated, or contradicted. “But even if we’re just 80 per cent perfect, we will still have made a huge step forward in terms of being able to galvanise public opinion, raise funds, prioritise need and speed the aid on those who need it most,” Douglas-Bate says.

  Photo by Kopper/Flickr