Problems

Webcam Water Flow Monitor

Updated 6 days 1 hour ago

Use webcam images/video to estimate water stage/flows in natural and manmade water channels/rivers. Should provide an inexpensive way to monitor river/canal flows. Currently high cost of flow sensors and telemetry (est. US$ 2000+) make it difficult to deploy in developing country settings and result in inadequate real-time knowledge of water flows. This information is critical for operational management (e.g. dam/canal operations) and for disaster management (e.g. flood early warning systems). Using simple and ubiquitous web cams (e.g. from fixed locations) to get images/video feeds (and sent using simple GSM telemetry or other options as appropriate) can provide information that can be interpreted (e.g. using pattern recognition software) to correlate with actual water flows (using short measurement records for calibration). This can then create a system where future flows can be interpreted directly from the webcam imagery at a fraction of the cost of modern sensors.
Categories: Disaster Resiliency, Water

Webcam Water Flow Monitor

Updated 6 days 1 hour ago

Use webcam images/video to estimate water stage/flows in natural and manmade water channels/rivers. Should provide an inexpensive way to monitor river/canal flows. Currently high cost of flow sensors and telemetry (est. US$ 2000+) make it difficult to deploy in developing country settings and result in inadequate real-time knowledge of water flows. This information is critical for operational management (e.g. dam/canal operations) and for disaster management (e.g. flood early warning systems). Using simple and ubiquitous web cams (e.g. from fixed locations) to get images/video feeds (and sent using simple GSM telemetry or other options as appropriate) can provide information that can be interpreted (e.g. using pattern recognition software) to correlate with actual water flows (using short measurement records for calibration). This can then create a system where future flows can be interpreted directly from the webcam imagery at a fraction of the cost of modern sensors.
Categories: Disaster Resiliency, Water

Webcam Water Flow Monitor

Updated 6 days 1 hour ago

Use webcam images/video to estimate water stage/flows in natural and manmade water channels/rivers. Should provide an inexpensive way to monitor river/canal flows. Currently high cost of flow sensors and telemetry (est. US$ 2000+) make it difficult to deploy in developing country settings and result in inadequate real-time knowledge of water flows. This information is critical for operational management (e.g. dam/canal operations) and for disaster management (e.g. flood early warning systems). Using simple and ubiquitous web cams (e.g. from fixed locations) to get images/video feeds (and sent using simple GSM telemetry or other options as appropriate) can provide information that can be interpreted (e.g. using pattern recognition software) to correlate with actual water flows (using short measurement records for calibration). This can then create a system where future flows can be interpreted directly from the webcam imagery at a fraction of the cost of modern sensors.
Categories: Disaster Resiliency, Water

Webcam Water Flow Monitor

Updated 6 days 1 hour ago

Use webcam images/video to estimate water stage/flows in natural and manmade water channels/rivers. Should provide an inexpensive way to monitor river/canal flows. Currently high cost of flow sensors and telemetry (est. US$ 2000+) make it difficult to deploy in developing country settings and result in inadequate real-time knowledge of water flows. This information is critical for operational management (e.g. dam/canal operations) and for disaster management (e.g. flood early warning systems). Using simple and ubiquitous web cams (e.g. from fixed locations) to get images/video feeds (and sent using simple GSM telemetry or other options as appropriate) can provide information that can be interpreted (e.g. using pattern recognition software) to correlate with actual water flows (using short measurement records for calibration). This can then create a system where future flows can be interpreted directly from the webcam imagery at a fraction of the cost of modern sensors.
Categories: Disaster Resiliency, Water

Stop job losses. Catch thieves. eBilling (& eFiling) for small town water. An application with both NGO and commercial potential - H2O-PEN!

Updated 3 weeks 14 hours ago

NEW Youtube Intro: http://bit.ly/pAAgSO

 

FEMI IS LOSING HER JOB!

Femi is Losing her Job

Was she lazy? No. Did she steal?  No. 

Femi lives in a small town in Uganda.  She works long hours in a supermarket, rarely taking home more than $3 USD a day.  Her husband works far away in Kampala but Femi is lucky enough to share a house with her two sisters.  Sharing three rooms among ten of them is sometimes a bit tiring but at least Femi has water in her house. 

Abdoul, the local water provider, serving Femi’s small town of 4 000 people – is also a small businessman.  He recently won, via tender, a contract from the government to run the town’s water system.  He recently connected up Femi and her sisters to the water mains.

Until recently Abdoul he was a pump repairman.  He’s happy running the scheme as it was recently repaired with funds from the German government – the income is more stable (so far!) than repairing pumps, and he has to travel less, making his wife happy.

So what is the problem?

The problem is Femi is about to lose her job.  We know she didn’t steal, we know she is not lazy.  So what happened? 

<SCROLL DOWN TO USER STORIES TO SEE MORE>

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The summary behind the story ...

A simple mobile-2-web system could save people (think Femi) time and hassle and money by allowing them to pay their bill using their mobile phone.  It will make water supply in small towns, simpler, cheaper and easier.  And those costs could even be used to give (some) water free to the poor.

The same system can provide technical and financial performance of hundreds or thousands of schemes to outsiders -government officials, regulators, donors, NGOs and non-profits.  (Think Sam, whose story is to come).  This makes donors more inclined to put in money. 

This way outsiders can figure out when to intervene and when to leave well alone, who is cheating, who is doing well, who needs a new pump.

Without it taking months and cutting off people from the water in the middle of the dry season.

It can also provide a simple way to give feedback and advice to those running the schemes (think Abdoul) feedback they understand and can work with.  Real-time advice on performance. 

In the future such a system can even be linked to a simple way for users to give feedback on their mobile phones, strengthening the incentives for managers and government to do a good job.

 

Categories: Transparency, Urban, Water

First earthquake alert and experience collecting

Updated 3 weeks 3 days ago

When an earthquake occurs somewhere in the world and the internet is still available (happens a lot even when fixed lines are down + people using smartphones connected to mobile masts), those who felt the earthquake tend to immediately look on the internet for more information. In a lot of cases they will not find anything as seismographs are often 5 to 30 minutes late in reporting the earthquake. Due to our knowledge in the field and hunderds of sources we would be able to inform people much fasterb than currently happens.
How ? As we have currently more than 1500 articles published in 1 year reporting and as we have thousands of users every day,  we are able to detect an earthquake based on our readers behavior.

A fast alert would enable us to provide information within minutes after it happens and would in much cases satisfy the reader that it wasn't that severe.

Categories: Disaster Resiliency

Collaborative Risk Assessment Tool

Updated 2 months 4 weeks ago

A foundational practice of emergency management is conducting a Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) also known as Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA). Measuring and rating hazards and risk gives an organization or community the information required to prioritize the allocation of resources to prevention and mitigation efforts. The HIRA is done by by discussing the relevant hazards and risks with stakeholders followed by polling stakeholders to get their scores fpr probability and impactb for each hazard.

Collaborative Risk Assessment Tool

Updated 2 months 4 weeks ago

A foundational practice of emergency management is conducting a Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) also known as Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA). Measuring and rating hazards and risk gives an organization or community the information required to prioritize the allocation of resources to prevention and mitigation efforts. The HIRA is done by by discussing the relevant hazards and risks with stakeholders followed by polling stakeholders to get their scores fpr probability and impactb for each hazard.

Sheltr :: for basic human needs

Updated 3 months 1 week ago

In Philadelphia, homelessness is a major problem. However, the technology has not scaled to fill this need. Providing services to the homeless population is a very inefficient and time-consuming process.

 

The goal of the application is to highlight life-preserving resources for the homeless and homeless service providers, particularly food and shelter resources.

 

Our solution highlights food and shelter resources in Philadelphia, with each resource marked with appropriate icons. It is an easily searchable, easily maintainable mapped listing of homeless shelters and free food resources in Philadelphia.

 

 

Our mobile-friendly site is up at http://philly.sheltr.org/, and can be extended for other cities. Our code is available at https://github.com/phillyshelter.

Categories: Food Security, Urban

Sheltr :: for basic human needs

Updated 3 months 1 week ago

In Philadelphia, homelessness is a major problem. However, the technology has not scaled to fill this need. Providing services to the homeless population is a very inefficient and time-consuming process.

 

The goal of the application is to highlight life-preserving resources for the homeless and homeless service providers, particularly food and shelter resources.

 

Our solution highlights food and shelter resources in Philadelphia, with each resource marked with appropriate icons. It is an easily searchable, easily maintainable mapped listing of homeless shelters and free food resources in Philadelphia.

 

 

Our mobile-friendly site is up at http://philly.sheltr.org/, and can be extended for other cities. Our code is available at https://github.com/phillyshelter.

Categories: Food Security, Urban

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