Just over fourteen months ago, social, mapping and mobile data told the story of Hurricane Irene. As a larger, more unusual late October storm churns its way up the East Coast, the people in its path are once again acting as sensors and media, creating crisis data as this “Frankenstorm” moves over them.
[Photo Credit: NASA}
In that context, it’s key to understand that it’s government weather data, gathered and shared from satellites high above the Earth, that’s being used by a huge number of infomediaries to forecast, predict and instruct people about what to expect and what to do. In perhaps the most impressive mashup of social and government data now online, an interactive Google Crisis Map for Hurricane Sandy pictured below predicts the future of the ‘Frankenstorm’ in real-time, including a NYC-specific version.
If you’re looking for a great example of public data for public good, these maps like the Weather Underground’s interactive are a canonical example of what’s possible.
Matt Lira, the director of digital for the Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, made an important, clear connection between open government, weather data and the a gorgeous wind visualization that has been getting passed around today.
This dynamic wind map is an example of how open government data can be utilized in effective & creative ways: hint.fm/wind/ #opengov
— Matt Lira (@MattLira) October 29, 2012
In the context of the utility of weather data, it will be interesting to see if Congress takes action to fund weather satellite replacements.)
In New York City, as the city’s websites faced heavy demand when residents went to its hurricane evacuation finder on Sunday, residents could also go and consult WYNC’s beautiful evacuation map. (Civiguard also activated an instant evacuation zone checker for smartphones and modern browsers.) WNYC data news editor John Keefe is responsible for the map below that puts the city’s open government data in action.
By releasing open data for uses in these apps, New York City and the U.S. federal government are acting as a platform for public media, civic entrepreneurs and nonprofits to enable people to help themselves and one another at a crucial time. When natural disasters loom, public data feeds can become critical infrastructure.
For one more example of how this looks in practice, look at WNYC’s storm surge map for New York and New Jersey.
If you’re a coder interested in working with the tech community, MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito is helping to coordinate #HurricaneHackers working on projects and resources for Hurricane Sandy. The group has made a timeline of events, a list of livestreams, along with aggregating links to official data and social streams, like Instacane, a site that aggregates Instagram images about the hurricane.
Stay safe, keep informed
Hurricane Sandy has meteorologists scared, and for good reason. The federal government is providing information on Hurricane Sandy at Hurricanes.govs and NOAA and sharing news and advisories in real-time on the radio, television, mobile devices and online using social media channels like @FEMA.
As the storm comes in, FEMA recommends m.fema.gov to mobile users and ready.gov for desktops. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are both live-blogging the news. Like WNYC, the Associated Press Reuters used weather data to populate interactive Hurricane Tracker maps.
People in the path of the storm can download smartphone apps from the RedCross: http://rdcrss.org/R4gjDV and FEMA on Android: http://bit.ly/ToDgqB iOS: http://bit.ly/sNZNJI or BlackBerry: http://bit.ly/wUiqHL
If you do not have a smartphone, save 43362 (4FEMA) to your mobile phone and charge it up. If, after #Sandy, you cannot return home and have immediate housing needs, text SHELTER + ZIP code to 43362.
UPDATE: Bob Rudis (@hrbrmstr wrote in to share his R code for live tracking at Github, which he blogged about here. David Smith has already put the code to use in tracking Hurricane Sandy with open data and R at Revolution Analytics.
If you have more examples of data, maps, apps, code or services relevant to the hurricane or its aftermath, please share them in the comments or write to alex@oreilly.com. And if you’re in the path of the storm, please stay safe.