HALO Trust Maps in Ukraine

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, a many organizations have gathered in Rzeszow, Poland to aid displaced people and begin rebuilding as soon as the fighting stops. The initial step was mapping the damage to prioritize the reconstruction and resettlement necessary to safely return Ukrainians to their homes. Over the first month of the conflict, more than 4 million people have fled the country, and an estimated 6.5 million people are internally displaced.

For The HALO Trust (HALO), the largest demining organization in the world, the mapping effort is focused on identifying the presence of explosive remnants of war as well as damage to homes and infrastructure. The HALO team is using a geographic information system (GIS) to detail the impacts and the ongoing dangers.

“What we do is critical to reconstruction and resettlement post-conflict, because you cannot just deal with the damage straight away,” said Luan Jaupi, head of information and communications technology at The HALO Trust. “We enable other humanitarian organizations and national authorities to safely conduct their activities by informing them where it’s safe to go and making places safe by clearing the explosives that are littered around.”

Social media and commercial satellite imagery have allowed the world to see and document Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These so-called open-source intelligence sources differ from classified intelligence that can only be shared through diplomatic channels.

“We’re collecting information from internet sources such as Twitter, Telegram, and Facebook,” said Jesse Hamlin, global GIS and database officer at The HALO Trust. “We’re finding lots of tanks and armored personnel carriers that have been destroyed, and they’re potentially booby-trapped with landmines around them. We’re also seeing mines being littered across a road and vehicles just driving past them, because there’s a panic to get out.”

HALO’s explosive ordnance experts review a variety of datasets flowing into its database from social media and news outlets, verify whether the data is relevant to the mine action sector, identify the model of the munitions if possible, and then place the dangers on a smart map to be shared with others.

Read the full article here.

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