Ebola maps created in UVM computer lab
After spending his summer in Ghana, Noah Ahles still feels a connection to the country even as it becomes surrounded by other countries in West Africa dealing with an Ebola outbreak.
Ghana has not yet been devastated by the disease spreading through countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, Ahles said. However, Ahles, a 2014 graduate of the University of Vermont and an employee of the university's Spatial Analysis Laboratory, wanted to find a way to help.
That desire turned into a Sunday morning and afternoon "map-athon" in a computer lab at the university's George D. Aiken Center. Ahles invited both students and community members to create maps that could be used by humanitarian workers on the ground in West Africa — an effort, he said, which would not make as big of an impact if he were to do it on his own.
About 15 people, including Ahles, sat down at computers — or brought their own — to begin creating maps from satellite images and data collected in the countries and posted on OpenStreetMap.org. The website is a collaborative effort to create a free editable map of the world from which data and information can be derived.
Map-makers continued to trickle into the computer lab as the morning portion of the event continued.
"I just realized it's not hard to get a bunch of people together who are doing good for a cause," Ahles said. "A lot of us don't have money to donate to Doctors Without Borders, but we do have a Sunday morning or afternoon to do some easy editing for them."
As soon as the maps are created and saved by the map creators on Open Street Map, aid workers in West Africa can access them as long as they have Internet connection, Ahles said.
Creating these maps in the wake of the Ebola outbreak can help track the number of patients, the number of people who could have been exposed and where the types of aid that might be needed. It also could help governments and aid organizations move supplies and patients safely and efficiently, according to the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team's website.
Ebola-related map-making has become a worldwide effort since the outbreak began, the website said. Ahles said he had been involved in a similar effort through Open Street Map following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013.
"I think that the momentum of this virus is terrifying for so many people," Ahles said. "I want to do anything I can to stop it."
Map-making volunteer Charlie Hofmann of Montpelier said his girlfriend is in the Peace Corps in Ghana, increasing his desire to help contain the outbreak.
"It's a good way to contribute," Hofmann said. "I'm happy to help out."
Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.
