Fortius Geospatial Review Maps Earthquake Damage in Haiti
Washington Business Journal - by Sarah Krouse Staff Reporter
A local company is mapping damage in Haiti in the wake of Tuesday’s massive earthquake using everything from U.S. Geological Survey data to Flikr photos.
Arlington-based the company, a data analysis and visual intelligence firm, is using its satellite imaging abilities to piece together an ever-evolving image of what Haiti and its capital city Port-au-Prince look like after being rocked by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
A partner with Google, the company spent the day after the quake downloading and aggregating as much geographical and population data as possible through its public platform, the mapping platform Community.
It has identified 38 different data sources so far and expects the map will be used by news outlets, businesses and nonprofits in the U.S. and on the ground in Haiti to identify which areas should be searched, how to approach them and ultimately, how to rebuild.
Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin is an investor in the company, which is also working with open source disaster management company Sahana Group, a nonprofit founded by Sri Lanka-based Lanka Software Foundation.
Fortius Geospatial Review will not turn a profit from its preliminary mapping work, which is free to the public, but said it has the ability to apply private companies’ data to the public map later on.
If a business wanted to check on its assets in the earthquake zone, Fortius could feed in its data and report back for a fee. The company also can pay to keep its information private.
Bill Greer, research coordinator for the company, said the mapping process has been a group effort.
The company has been tracking and mapping text messages in and around Haiti with the help of crisis tracking organization Ushahidi, monitoring Twitter, and feeding its map with data from real-time earthquake feeds and peak ground motion sensors provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“There are a lot of people in the same tech space as us. We are all in the same business together, but everyone has this connection in humanitarian efforts,” Greer said.
Fortius Geospatial Review was founded by data analysis and public policy experts from George Mason University in 2005.
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