[Web4lib] Satellite-Linked PDAs Promise To Speed Haitian ReliefEffort

[Walt Stumper]

Not to put a damper on this post (which comes from a blog), but the actual
story is somewhat less than what is stated here. 

The company's PR machine makes it appear that this technology is already in
place and being used by all of these agencies. Apparently this blogger is
not a careful reader.

>From what I could gather from the company press releases and news reports,
it's still seems to be in the test phase:

--

Gray said he's awaiting word on when GRT's people will go and who they will
go with. He said they will be heading over with the Navy, the Marines or the
Red Cross.

"We're going to be going with one of them," he said..   

--

The International Red Cross is not using GRT, but rather the American Red
Cross.  The IRC is spearheading the Haitian efforts. The GRT website lists
only 3 agencies using the device.    

This blog post is misleading.  How are tweets going to find bodies and
survivors??? This is better done with search & rescue teams with decades of
experience. Besides, a careful reading of their website indicates GRT's
primary function is to gather data for after action reports, not to find
survivors and the dead under rubble.  Sheesh!  

Walt...

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of gerrymck
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 5:26 PM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org; asis-l at asis.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Satellite-Linked PDAs Promise To Speed Haitian
ReliefEffort > John Dodge / SmartPlanet / January 15 2010

As Haitians dig furiously through the rubble to find survivors and the dead,
Global Relief Technologies (GRT) is planning to map and record the
destruction on the ground to give relief workers critical realtime
information as they race against the clock.

The Portsmouth, N.H. company's Rapid Data Management System will be used to
collect data on the ground with PDAs. A variety of media - texts, reports,
photos, video and tweets - are transmitted via satellite to an
Internet-based and secure Collaboration Center custom-designed for the
client and its relief workers. Satellite communications are critical because
land lines and cell towers are down in the ravaged areas.

With respect to Haiti, GRT is working with the Marines, National Guard, Red
Cross and the USS Comfort floating hospital ship, which is heading to Haiti.
Members in those units can securely access the Collaboration Center through
any number of computing devices, PDAs and smartphones.

[snip]

Just about any rescue or reconstruction information can be handled within
the RDMS to answer questions such as. is a building intact, partially
damaged or destroyed? What's it location? What does it look like before and
after? Perhaps there are people still trapped inside. How many and for how
long? What's known about their injuries? What's the local availability of
resources? What are the detailed conditions of the roads, bridges and other
infrastructure?

And emergency alerts can be broadcast to field workers as events dictate.

With the earthquake disaster and heartbreaking search for survivors
dominating the news, local media outlets here in Boston with its sizable
Haitian community have rushed to cover GRT. [snip]

Source > Relevant Links > Graphic/Photo Available At

[ http://tinyurl.com/ye93577 ]

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011