United Nations Disaster Reporting App & what3words
3 words to help report in natural disasters & humanitarian crises
UN-ASIGN is a free crowd-sourcing app developed for the United Nations by AnsuR Technologies in Norway.
It is used during a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis, and allows individuals to collect and disseminate crowd-sourced photos and reports. Data such as points of flooding, damaged buildings and hazardous electric lines are automatically mapped and help towards overall situational awareness and response during a crisis.
The data is collected by UNOSAT who then shares the relevant data with UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and other responding agencies such as the Government and NGOs. The application has successfully been used in Haiti, Pakistan, Nigeria and flooding in Thailand.
The latest release of UN-ASIGN has integrated the innovative geo-referencing system, what3words. It means all photos and reports will be geo-tagged with their 3 word addresses.
In times of crisis the communication of location is key and due to their memorability using 3 words simplifies this; reducing errors and ambiguity. This integration will also enable the affected community to refer to any precise location; when they are there, once they have left that location or if they want to refer to an entirely different location. This will help all responding agencies to communicate the location of any area using a 3 word address.
what3words enhances what is an inclusive, rapid response solution with a simple way to communicate location making it more easily and more effectively coordinating a response.
