Hello, I am relatively new to OSM and completely new to Humanitarian OSM but extremely enthusiastic about both projects and would like to contribute in a way that I will describe below, and for which I would appreciate your feedback and ideas.
Most humanitarian actors agree that the best response to an emergency is preparedness, not only in terms of behaviors but also data. What strikes me when I look at HOSM data model<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Tags/Humanitarian_Data_Model>is that I don't see anything for natural hazard delineation, for example. When responding to a crisis, humanitarian actors might want to know in advance where to expect landslides, avalanches and floods areas (for their own safety but also to "predict" where roads might be blocked or where facilities might have been affected). Seismic zonation is something that can be directly included in OSM; oldish data is freely available from the GSHAP project <http://www.seismo.ethz.ch/static/GSHAP/>, while the GlobalEarthquake Model <http://www.globalquakemodel.org> will provide with a more modern version in a few years. My question to the active and experienced members of the community is thus the following: *would you see any relevance to develop classes for natural (and man-made?) hazards to be included in HOSM framework?* As we can not expect the communities to have the technical knowledge of hazard scientists, the ontology would have to remain quite simple, which is probably ok for humanitarian actors (who cares whether it's a landslide, a rockfall or a debris flow? a general category "earth mass movement" might be sufficient for our purpose). Also, a distinction should be made between "usual" events (those that occur relatively frequently but that might or might not be currently triggered) and actual events (that have been actually triggered). Many challenges ahead but before diving into it, I would like to check with you if this idea has already been discussed and if it makes sense to pursue it. Thanks a lot in advance and look forward to reading your comments, Stéphane -- "Le mot progrès n'aura aucun sens tant qu'il y aura des enfants malheureux" -- Albert Einstein "A journey does not need reasons. Before long, it proves to be reason enough in itself. One thinks that one is going to make a journey, yet soon it is the journey that makes or unmakes you." -- Nicolas Bouvier Photos de voyages, photos de montagne: http://www.henriod.info
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