Geospatial Practices and Obstacles in Humanitarian and Development Projects#
Summary#
In this research for the World Bank and the Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement, we investigated how geospatial data are currently produced, handled, used, and shared by and among humanitarian and development actors, and the obstacles they encounter. We conducted 14 interviews with geospatial experts and performed a literature/web study. Geospatial data are being used extensively by many actors, each with a different focus. Although quality geospatial data are not always available, the bottleneck in creating or collecting such data is rarely the availability of satellite images, nor the lack of funding. Rather, local collection of points of interest and their attributes poses the largest problem, alongside inconsistent data collection and sharing strategies.
Data sharing between organizations takes place both formally and informally. Formally, the Humanitarian Data Exchange portal, operated by OCHA, positions itself as the central hub for humanitarian data exchange, but our analysis of its content and our conclusions from the opinions expressed by interviewees suggest that it lacks the general buy-in and awareness of the wider community: not all data goes by default into HDX. Therefore, users are not sure if the data are up to date, authoritative, or quality controlled.
This report is separated into two parts: this document focuses on summarizing the problems encountered in the interviews, and suggests potential solutions, improvements, and next steps for improving the use of geospatial data in humanitarian and development projects. The second document presents a workflow for assessing data needs in humanitarian projects, focusing on understanding the process to move from information needs to data assessment to analysis.
Report Contents#
Geography in FDP context
Data assessment strategy