A screenshot of Storrs, CT from Wikimapia.

Wikimapia is an open, online Geographic Information System that displays Google imagery and allows users to add information. Although the information displayed on Wikimapia is unofficial, the application allows users to build a spatial database and collaborate on a global scale, like Wikipedia . For more, visit the Wikimapia Forum.

The ESRI Occupy Wall Street map now displays locations of demonstrations.

A little over a week ago, I posted the ESRI produced Occupy Wall Street map. One of the items I noted was how the content was mostly limited to the occupation in Manhattan. Just over ten days later, the capabilities of this map have been expanded and the amount of content has grown exponentially. In addition to YouTube videos, Tweets, and images from Flickr, the OWS map now displays Occupy locations (which span the entire globe – see screenshot above) and a tool that allows users to quickly zoom to different cities located under the Areas of Interests button.

As they did for Hurricane Irene, ESRI has developed an interactive map that showcases social media related to the Occupy Wall Street Protests. The map features pictures from Flickr, Tweets, and YouTube videos. Currently, the majority of the content of the map is from the lower Manhattan protests, but the map also displays social media from outside the New York area. It will be interesting to see if the geographic distribution of social media shared on the map spreads as protests have sprouted up all over the country.

WhereCamp Boston is a volunteer-created unconference for anyone interested in geography and technology. This year’s event will be happening October 29th-30th, with a two full days of unconference sessions and keynotes at the Microsoft NERD Center in Kendall Square.

GIS has developed into a critical technology for crisis management. The ability to synthesize spatial and non-spatial information quickly and accurately is invaluable in responding to everything from criminal incidents to natural disasters. One product that exemplifies this is the LRA Crisis Tracker, which is a real-time mapping platform that tracks incidents related to the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa. Such incidents include kidnapping, killings and more. The LRA tracker website includes a methodology, that among other things, notes the methods used in verifying incidents; those incidents that are reasonably verifiable are mapped. This application is a product of Invisible Children, an organization that strives to use “…film, creativity, and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity.”