Nordic Geospatial Blog –

Given that geospatial tools are effective at a variety of scales, here are two timely meso and micro scale developments of note -

Mapping the transit routes (aka OD, Origin-Destination, Modelling) of UK rioters via the @Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2011/dec/05/england-riots-distance-travelled-map

Download PDF here > http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2011/08/15/rioteventsandaddresses.pdf

” They were the “riot commuters”, people who came from far and wide to take part in – or just watch – the disturbances across England. But did they really exist? How far did people actually travel?

Now we have the first answer: 2.2miles

According to analysis by the UK’s top transport data mapping company, ITO world – based on the Guardian’s database of riot-related court records – the average distance from home to where defendants were accused of a riot offence was just over two miles, or a half hour walk.

If the most likely road route was taken into account, that distance rose to 2.6 miles.

That varies between cities – in Manchester, the average from home to offence location was 2.8 miles. In Birmingham, the average was 2.9 miles and in Nottingham, 2.6.

In London, people were closer to home: 1.5 miles in Peckham and 2.2 miles in Brixton. But those accused of riot-related offences in suburban Ealing and Croydon were 2.7 miles and 2.3 miles.”

Via the National Science Foundation (@NSF), using advanced sensor technologies (i.e. mobile accelerometers,, GPS, WiFI, Bluetooth, etc.) to track first responders INSIDE of buildings during disasters – aka the ‘holy grail’ of HLS/EM GEOINT since 9/11 -

http://t.co/ZieMvTJE

And once such sensors are deployed, note the compelling Google (Earth, Map, Latitude) foray into documenting INDOOR spaces at key sites (#CIKR) –

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-frontier-for-google-maps-mapping.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/12/05/google-indoor-mapping-at-malls-airports-creates-new-market/

UPDATE 20111113
NASA GeoCam project – http://disastercam.blogspot.com/

Great tools for deciphering the torrent of #Twitter data -

http://gnip.com

http://www.geochirp.com/

http://trendsmap.com/

http://www.sat2twitter.com/

And a great UN effort to share pictures and their locations -

http://www.ansur.no/

& http://www.geo-pictures.eu/

Compelling TEDx talk by UK journalist Paul Lewis ( ) re: the citizen reporting and transparency paradigm shift which Twitter and allied social media tools have ushered-in -

…an equally focused and vivid 3 minute lightning talk by ESRI re: Social Media for Emergency Management #SMEM

And with great allusions to AirWolf and Yoda, a concise ‘state of the social mapping union’ TEDx Silicon Valley tour de force by one of the preeminent #SMEM and #CrisisMappers visionaries, Patrick Meier

Patrick Meier speaks at TEDx Silicon Valley 2011 from TEDx Silicon Valley on Vimeo.

Free ArcGIS.com resource for understanding the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – http://www.london2012.com

View Larger Map

Lastly, interesting beta Silverlight map tool to note Twitter geo patterns and timeline -

http://apps.arcgis.com/hosted/OnePane/twittertimeline/index.html

Timely piece by the Atlantic Monthly with #massgathering and #CIKR caveats -

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/the-fan-factor-in-the-nba-conference-finals/239251/

Bravo team HealthMap.org and note the useful South Africa FIFA World Cup map that vividly displays how modern transportation networks and mass gatherings can pose unique public health challenges (for more info on WHO efforts in this regard, go to http://www.who.int/csr/mass_gatherings/en/ & http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/swineflu/h1n1_mass_gatherings/en/) …

http://www.healthmap.org/fifa/

http://www.healthmap.org/en/

http://healthmapblog.blogspot.com/

And some perspective from WHO on Athens 2004
http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/environmental-health/urban-health/publications/2007/mass-gatherings-and-public-health-the-experience-of-the-athens-2004-olympic-games