ONE Campaign publishes InterAction's blog post

As a child, unfolding maps of Africa or Australia and seeing the names of towns dotting the vast lands, my imagination was sparked. Today it’s rare to use a paper map; everything is online with detailed directions and nearby landmarks (need to find an ATM in Lima? No problem, your phone can find one and map it).

I began working on an online mapping project of a different sort this year at InterAction. It’s not intended to help you get from point A to point B, but rather to give you a detailed look of the work NGOs are doing in post-earthquake Haiti. The new Haiti Aid Map provides a snapshot of who’s doing what where (under the same initiative, we are also currently mapping food security and agriculture projects). Currently, the map is only in the prototype stage, but there will be a fully built out site mapping the work of InterAction members and other NGOs by the end of the year.

What fascinates me most about this project is not the map itself, but how you can use the map to better understand the work of the NGO community. Using public datasets available from the mapping software, you can overlay information to get a better understanding of where donations are being put to use or even see where more aid is needed. Someone wanting to research school construction in Haiti could map educational projects and overlay it with data on collapsed schools or attendance records.

I believe the power of today’s online mapping is its ability to tell a broader story than geographical locations. The goal of InterAction’s mapping initiative is to help the larger community to see a fuller picture of how our efforts are helping those who need it most.

InterAction is an alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people. To learn more about the Haiti or food security/agriculture mapping projects, please email mappinginfo@interaction.org.

- Danielle Heiberg, Strategic Impact program associate, InterAction