ICCM 2013: Matt McNabb, CaerusGEO: Value in the First Mile
Channel: CrisisMappersNet
Date: 17/01/2014

Matt McNabb from CaerusGEO: Generating and using geospatial data can be a challenge for many institutions in the developing world. Severe human capital, financial, and infrastructural gaps often constrain the adoption of new technologies designed to support them. As a consequence those best placed to generate and act upon spatial analytics often lack the means to bridge the gap between paper workflows and the analytics made possible through cloud computing.  We call this the problem of Data in the First Mile.
 
How can we bend technology to be useful to the social and technical realities of these users? This Ignite Talk will take a swift tour through field-based experiences in Pakistan, Liberia, Honduras, and Syria in addressing on this challenge. It will cover generational developments from the humanitarian born 'Walking Papers' technology into more systematic efforts to enable institutions in 'places of crisis' to bridge the paper-to-cloud gap for sustained use in the first mile.

Specific examples will be drawn from ongoing work inside of Aleppo, Syria and with institutions in Monrovia, Liberia." @mattrmcnabb