These are products focus on sectoral humanitarian needs and operations in respect of emergency shelter. They may visualise housing data as a proxy indicator of shelter needs, and data from displacement tracking work, as well as data from specific shelter needs assessments. Later in the response, they may be used as a basis for transitional shelter and reconstruction planning.
Both.
Baseline and situational.
They may be produced at any stage of an emergency response, but are likely to be most required and requested once a coordinated sectoral response is under way.
All humanitarian actors involved in shelter sector response, typically through the emergency shelter cluster. National authorities are likely to be key actors, possibly including civil protection, public works or housing ministries.
Emergency shelter is often a crucial and urgent lifesaving need in disasters and emergencies. Mapped information on damage to and loss of dwellings, known locations of displaced people whether in formal camps or at information sites, is likely to be of high importance to the humanitarian response from an early stage of a disaster.
Identify as early as possible the spatial tagging in use in damage, displacement tracking and needs assessment data collection, to ensure that collected data can be mapped.
Use damage reports when necessary as a first proxy for shelter needs, but with care as damage analysis may not be standardised.
Administration boundary and settlement datasets that match the reporting structure (possibly the government’s) for reporting situational data.
Where available, remote-sensed damage assessment data, but only if analysis is reliable and standardised, and coverage of data and analysis are known.
Standardised data on shelter needs, from response actors and agencies working through the emergency shelter cluster.
Baseline population data is likely to be important, to enable damage and potential displacement to be matched against the pre-disaster population.
Emergency shelter cluster or other actors may provide spatially-analysed data on shelter materials and activities, for response planning and gap analysis.
These products show sectoral humanitarian needs and operations in respect of IDP camp coordination and management, and associated sectoral activities. They help inform planning and operation of camps for displaced people, both at local/individual level and across the operational area. They may show camp population figures, infrastructure, hazards or resources. Will often use satellite images for basemap.
Both.
Situational
Maps may be required when IDP camps are being planned or established.
All humanitarian actors involved in camp management and administration, typically through the camp coordination and camp management cluster.
Planning of camp locations is driven by spatial factors including safety and access to resources. Within camps, layout planning is facilitated by detailed camp mapping.
Most importantly, camp coordination and camp management mapping reports frequently changing populations and demographics, status of supplies delivered, unmet needs and who-what-where.
For detailed site layout planning, satellite imagery is often the most suitable base map. Google Earth can be a useful tool for rapid mapping of new camps.
Topographic mapping and/or satellite imagery or air photos for site identification and selection.
Data on environmental aspects of potential sites, including water resources.
For detailed layout planning, site features data will be provided by camp coordination and camp management actors.
These are products to support sectoral responses for the emergency telecommunications cluster and communicating with disaster-affected people. Products focus on the availability and provision of emergency telecommunications as a tool for: (a) operational humanitarian response, and (b) communicating with disaster-affected communities. In the latter case they may include broadcast media such as community radio. They can be used to facilitate or maintain the telecommunications (radio and cellular phones) network infrastructure or to broadcast (usually through community radio) across the operational area. Inclusion data on the population and languages spoken by beneficiary communities is important to include where possible.
Mainly operational.
Baseline and situational.
May be produced early in a humanitarian response to support the establishment of telecommunications and broadcast networks as a common service, or when planning communications actions with affected communities.
All humanitarian actors and, where relevant, disaster-affected communities.
The provision of effective telecommunications is usually essential for needs assessment and operational control by individual agencies, and for effective inter-agency coordination. Existing telecommunications networks may be compromised by the disaster, or saturated by demand. Maps showing existing and planned coverage of telecommunications infrastructure may be an important planning tool for emergency telecommunications cluster actors, and also for agencies planning communications with disaster-affected communities.
Effective modelling of radio reception in detail may not be practical, however simply mapping the locations of transmitters on topographic maps can be very useful for network planning.
Even if network coverage is not accurately known, reported reception in key locations (e.g. major towns) may still be usefully annotated on maps.
Topographic base mapping showing terrain, for identification of likely radio network coverage.
Population and settlements data.
Data on existing and planned network infrastructure and coverage including cellular networks, HF and VHF radio, broadcast radio stations.
For communications with disaster-affected communities activities, data on spatial distribution of languages may be very relevant.
Protection products are those that focus on vulnerable groups within the affected population, typically focusing on child protection, gender-based violence (GBV), mine action or land, housing and property concerns. Security products typically report on incidents that have occurred, and may also show plans such as evacuation routes. Due to the sensitive nature of what this information may show, both protection and security products should be published and shared cautiously. In some cases they may only be shared within an organisation.
Both.
Baseline and situational.
Protection products can be produced at any point. This is particularly the case during complex emergencies or in areas where there has been underlying tension in the past, i.e. areas that have a history of conflict. Demining programmes may occur during or immediately after the event, although these programmes will often be long term and therefore product updates may carry on longer too.
Anyone responsible for the protection of vulnerable groups, particularly child protection and victims of gender-based violence. Anyone involved with demining activity. Agency security officers who need to know where incidents may have occurred. IDP camp planners who may wish to allocate specific areas or specific resources to different groups based on their needs.
The mapping of any reported incident or issue should highlight either broad areas of concern or hot spots where there may be groups of vulnerable people. In some cases this may lead to the need to evacuate vulnerable groups from the area. Cross-referenced with other information, it might be possible to address the problem by providing the appropriate aid. Anyone responsible for demining activity, this may lead to the evacuation of the local community where explosive remnants of war (ERW) may be scattered. If there are known minefields these will be shown as ‘no go areas’, with advice to avoid them.
Caution may need to be taken, particularly when publishing products on protection, as it is possible to aggravate already sensitive situations. It is sensible to use anonymous or data aggregated to a suitable level to mitigate this.
With security mapping, particularly relating to conflict, any maps representing land held should be represented as clearly as possible, particularly areas close to borders that are being fought over or areas that change hands frequently. To show the intensity of incidents, heat mapping is a good way of representing centres of activity. These maps also have a temporal element to them and lend themselves to animation too. Organisational evacuation routes should never be shown publicly without prior consent, as this may lead to an organisation being left vulnerable.
Demining activities have detailed standard operating procedures for the physical removal or destruction of mines and explosive remnants of war. With this in mind there is often a significant buffer around a contaminated area, and these are marked using internationally recognisable symbols. Areas can be divided into sectors in a similar way to those of search and rescue activities, so that they can be systematically cleared. Any evacuation routes or rendezvous points should be mapped.
Baseline population including demographics about gender, age groups, ethnicity, languages, etc
These maps may help when working in the clusters and specifically where there is vulnerability or access problem during a response (e.g. food, shelter, WASH, etc.). They should be supported by the core maps.
Click through on each map to explore how they might be useful.
Education is one of the key resources to get back in place following a disaster. It is particularly important for children of school age as it provides a safe and protective environment that helps them get to back to some form of normality. Educational facilities may also be used as evacuation centres or meeting facilities, as building standards tend to be higher at these communal buildings.
Both.
Baseline and situational.
Baseline maps may have been produced during earlier preparedness work, but if not they should be produced as soon as possible. Situational maps should be created as the information comes in. At first this may come from initial damage reports, but will then move on to incorporate information from needs assessments.
All humanitarian actors involved in education, typically through the education cluster or the Ministry of Education.
Damage assessments inform actors which education facilities can continue to be used either for their primary function, education, or for other functions such as meeting or evacuation centres.
Some facilities will be for multiple age groups i.e. primary and secondary, and these should labelled as clearly as possible.
Nurseries, schools, colleges and university locations
Education demographics
Ministry of Education
National census
Logistics