Our world is in constant danger from natural and man-made disaster. The risk of flood, famine, hurricanes, earthquakes and disease is ever present. We are already seeing the impact of climate change in rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Aid budgets are stretched and volunteers under pressure. The global humanitarian response community are in desperate need of innovation, and we’re relying on you to make that happen. Continue reading to find out more about how you can get involved in CrisisHack 2018.
Back in March 2017, Geovation launched CrisisHack 2017: a three-day hack event exploring how geospatial technology could be applied to improve natural disaster response. Sponsors included the industry-leading DSTL, IBM, and Planet,
Four high-level user stories were set for the hack that acted as a basis for measuring and validating ideas, covering all aspects of a crisis response. This included the initial effort to update mapping of an area to support coordination, generating the real time picture of what was going on by looking at aggregating published news stories, and supporting collaboration across the people on the ground. Entries were not limited to focus on these. However, eight strong teams entered the hack and generated some really interesting ideas.
The hack was supported by IBM, who provided access to their Bluemix platform. Planet Labs also provided access to their API, providing satellite data. We also sign posted entrants to a large number of open datasets often used in disaster response, such as OpenStreetMap, Geonames and GDELT. Our in-house team of software engineers were also on-hand throughout the weekend, providing valuable support to all teams.
CrisisHack 2018
Following last year's success, we are very excited to announce that we are, again, hosting CrisisHack 2018, taking place from April 26 - 28 2018 at Britain's pioneering location-data lab, the Geovation Hub.
CrisisHack 2018 would like you to prototype and test a solution to one of the following case studies, which have been validated by real humanitarian organisations and needs: UK Floods, and the Urban Sanitation Crisis. Crowning a winner from each strand, renowned judges will also explore how winning entries can be developed into sustainable business ideas with potential funding and resource.
Now it is over to you to bring your skills, ideas and passion to the forefront and use technology and tools to build a solution that could make a real difference to people in the UK and all over the world. Register by 24 April to avoid disappointment!
Missed the briefing event? Not a problem. Watch all of the talks around our case studies here.
Check out our CrisisHack brochure here for more information as well.
Contact Us for more Information and Support
Email - events@geovation.uk
Phone - +44 (0) 20 3286 3089
Website - geovation.uk
Over the last ten years there has been significant investment in new toilet technologies to meet the needs of underserved communities. These new innovations do not need sewers, reduce water usage and reclaim valuable nutrients from human waste. Despite these advances, there has been no change in the proportion of people without access to proper sanitation.
In 2017, the World Bank reported that poor data had led to an ineffective allocation of resources. The current data gap has also prevented the sanitation sector from tracking its progress in providing sanitation for people living in cities. Sanitation organisations are collecting large quantities of data on their operations, but this data is rarely shared and used to understand the state of sanitation in a city. Without this analysis, sanitation funders cannot direct their investments effectively, and sanitation providers cannot identify where their services are needed most.
The UK experienced a spell of extreme weather with sequence of storms from mid-December 2013 to February 2014, making it the wettest period since 1876. Around six major storms hit through this period, separated by intervals of two to three days.
The Environment Agency issued over 160,000 warnings to homes and businesses, giving people vital time to take actions to reduce the impact of the flooding. By February 2014, it is estimated that 413 homes have been flooded across the country and farmland has been inundated with no sign of immediate relief from the continuing weather conditions.
The army has been providing assistance and relief operations to complement the many emergency services personnel and volunteers across the country.
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated three times throughout this period in December 2013, January 2014 and February 2014.
While the weighting for quality of pitch is the lowest, teams still have to be present to do the pitching in order to be considered for the prizes. Focus is simply put more on the product & longevity of the idea, than the overall pitching quality.
Please note: the below criteria is a guideline for you and the judges only.
CrisisHack wants everyone to have a great and productive time when getting together to improve humanitarian response management. The CrisisHack is also about sharing knowledge, interests and ideas to innovate geospatial technology.
Therefore we are dedicated to provide a harassment-free, inclusive experience for everyone taking part, regardless of the following:
Age,
Gender, gender identity and expression,
Sexual orientation,
Race,
Colour,
Ethnicity,
National origin,
Religion,
Disability,
Physical appearance,
Body size,
Previous hackathon attendance or lack of,
Computing experience or lack of,
Chosen programming language or tech stack.
Harassment, according to the Equality Act 2010, is defined as: ‘Unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual.’ Therefore the CrisisHack team does not tolerate any unwelcome or hostile behaviour, speech or physical contact, which intimidates, creates discomfort, or interferes with a person’s participation in the hack event. Sexual language and imagery is also not appropriate at the hackathon event as well as on our social media, Slack, and other online platforms.
We reserve the right to caution any participant or staff violating this code of conduct, and, if necessary, expel those individuals from the hack competition, our premises, or even future events.
So, please be respective of other people’s opinions, abilities and interests, and welcome participants with an open mind, to ensure everyone gets the most out of this experience. We learn best with each other, not for each other - so, let’s make the most of an open innovation for a good cause.
