Problems

Geolocate health care services and make them available to mobile users.

The location and contact details of hospitals have been exported from openstreetmap.

http://www.konekta.info/

http://www.konekta.info/mobile/

In addition locations have been uploaded by registered users. We want to ‘harden’ and validate the contact details of the hospitals and their locations. The proposal is to pass the data through data validation exercise.

JSON file of the locations.

http://datahub.io/dataset/geolocations-for-community-development

Hack day goals

• Harden the data by passing it through different methods of validation.
• Publish a choropleth visualisation that shows the accuracy of the hospital contact information. Dark green (score 15) - Light green (score 1)

http://www.konekta.info/south-africa/

http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4060606

Potential data validators

• Level 5 - Local resident confirms - Epicollect? (score 5)
• Level 4 - Local primary health care validation - Twitter, Direct login and confirmation (score 4)
• Level 3 - Government list - Need to source (score 3)
• Level 2 - Google search confirmation - Crowdcrafting requirement (score 2)
• Level 1 - Exported from openstreetmap or added directly on the site (score 1)

Next steps 1) Fresh import out of OSM and reverse Geocode

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Overpass_API

Reverse Geo-Coding Addresses in data file using open street map:

http://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/reverse?format=json&lat=52.5487429714954&lon=-1.81602098644987&zoom=18&addressdetails=1

2) Level 2 Crowdcrafting requirement

https://github.com/PyBossa/app-oajournals http://crowdcrafting.org/app/oajournals/

3) Source data from the government body responsible for service delivery. 4) Validation from an organisation operating from the premises using Twitter. 5) Local resident confirms - Epicollect? (score 5)

http://www.konekta.info/mobile/ https://github.com/konekta/where-is-when-is

Make No Mistake - bushfire survival planning is the responsibility of individuals, including young people and it can be a bit boring!

In areas of high bushfire risk there are many households without a bushfire survival plan. If there is a plan it is often made by the the adults for the enitre household. Young people, especially teenagers do not always understand the risk and may not pay close attention to the plan (if there is one).

Many households plan to just leave early. Great. What happens when it is the third day of Code Red fire danger in a row. The pressure is on to go to work but the local high school is closed. What's the plan for the teenagers? What happens when a fire starts in the area and there is no option to leave?

We need to inspire these young people to understand bushfire risk so that they can get involved in bushfire planning. 

Our young people are typically avid internet and social media users. We need to develop a way of engaging with young people online in the high risk bushfire areas to get them bushfire prepared and potentially save their lives.

With the help of RHoK we would now like to increase the level of knowledge of bushfire risk and preparedness amongst our teenagers. "Make No Mistake" will be a game (web-based and/or mobile) that is fun, educational and interesting enough that teenagers will play it! 

Some of the issues to be addressed are:

- teenagers being left home alone on high bushfire risk days (school holidays, sick, pupil free days)

- teenagers from out of the area coming into a high risk area to attend school

- teenagers from high risk areas who attend schools out of the area (knowing when it is safe to come home)

- understanding information available (eg. fire danger ratings, weather conditions, warnings & incidents)

- how to survive if confronted by a bushfire event

- letting people know where they are on days of high bushfire risk.

The key features required are that it is a GAME, it is FUN, there are THINGS TO DO and QUESTIONS to answer.

 

Accurate and accessible mapping services have changed how many of use see our place in the world. Whether it's interactive street maps, satellite imagery or detailed maps of natural resources it is easier than ever to have accurate knowledge of where we call home. Many communities in rural part of the world are not accurately mapped, current maps are not easily updated, or in many cases communities are not mapped at all. Professional GPS technology and GIS software can be very costly and very complicated, especially for those with little to no experience with computer programs, like many who live in rural communities.

Utilizing the location services already on many cell phones, location way-points could be saved and uploaded later to a simple web-based service for map creation, editing and publishing online or printing. A user would open the application on their cell phone, or location service device, and stand at a landmark or way-point. The application would save their geo-location and give them the ability to name the location and label it under a category (such as 'road' or 'water source'). Later, the user is able to upload their data-points to a web-based mapping service. Current free online mapping services could be used, like GPS Visualizer or Open Street Map, or another service could be developed. This service would be more integrated with the mobile application, designed for the purpose of mapping unmapped locations, and more user friendly to people of different world languages.

Giving rural villagers maps of their communities will provide opportunities for villages to: measure their local resources and create natural resource management plans; view infrastructure (such as water pump locations) on a village wide scale so needs and improvements can be modeled to benefit the greatest number of people. An accurate local map would be a useful teaching tool to increase spacial reasoning skills for primary and secondary school geography lessons, students could also have a chance to create their own maps of landmarks important to them. Accurate maps would also greatly help emergency planning and disaster relief efforts. Lastly, empowering individuals to define and explore their community through maps broadens minds and gives people a better understanding of their sense of place in the world. It is an opportunity to put their communities 'On the Map.'

 Environmental degradation in the form of soil erosion is a serious problem all over the lowlands of Lesotho and especially in the area of Taung where I live and work. The main cause of this soil erosion is unsustainable farming practices and overgrazing.

While most youth were taught about soil erosion in primary school, there is not currently an agriculture program at the high school that serves the area. With out thorough education about soil erosion and the practices that cause it, youth will learn and up hold the customary agricultural practices of their parents and the environment will continue to deteriorate.

            In order to teach youth about the causes of soil erosion in an engaging way and hopefully promote behavior change in the way the people of Lesotho grow crops and raise animals, I have come up with the idea of a game that can be played on a Smart Phone. The game, Agritown would be similar to the popular Farmville game, where a player will tend to his or her own farm and livestock through controlling an avatar. However, Agritown differs where the player will see the consequences of his or her actions in the way that the land either regenerates showing sustainable agricultural techniques or wears away by way of soil depletion, creation of dangas (ditches caused by soil erosion), water/wind run off, etc. teaching the player how poor techniques affect the environment. The game would also have update the player on the state of the environment and what is happening to the land as the player chooses to implement certain techniques.

 

Please open the link below to learn more about the impact of soil erosion in the area of Taung: http://youtu.be/wCFeIsWEyck