NYC open data put to critical work in Hurricane Sandy
As citizens look for hurricane information online, government websites are under high demand. In this information ecosystem, media, government and citizens alike will play a critical role in sharing information about what’s happening and providing help to one another.
In New York City, as the city’s websites faced heavy demand when residents went to its hurricane evacuation finder, residents could also go and consult WYNC’s beautiful evacuation map, putting the open government data in action. data news editor John Keefe is responsible for the map below.
NYC open data is also in use below, in an embedded Google Crisis Map for Hurricane Sandy that predicts the future of the ‘Frankenstorm’in real-time:
By releasing open data for uses in these apps, New York City is acting as a platform for public media, civic entrepreneurs and nonprofits to enable people to help themselves and one another at a crucial time. Civiguard has also activated an instant evacuation zone checker for smartphones and modern browsers. For another example, look at the storm surge map for New York and New Jersey:
Stay safe, keep informed
The federal government is providing information on Hurricane Sandy at Hurricanes.govs and NOAA and sharing news and advisories in real-time on the radio, television, mobile devices and online using social media channels like @FEMA. As the storm comes in, FEMA recommends m.fema.gov to mobile users and ready.gov for desktops. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are both live-blogging the news. Like WNYC, the Associated Press Reuters used weather data to populate interactive Hurricane Tracker maps.
People in the path of the storm can download smartphone apps from the RedCross: http://rdcrss.org/R4gjDV
and FEMA on Android: http://bit.ly/ToDgqB iOS: http://bit.ly/sNZNJI or BlackBerry: http://bit.ly/wUiqHL
If you do not have a smartphone, save 43362 (4FEMA) to your mobile phone and charge it up. If, after #Sandy, you cannot return home and have immediate housing needs, text SHELTER + ZIP code to 43362.
