JAKARTA, INDONESIA–(Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12th, 2014) – The power of the crowd has been called upon in Indonesia to suggest government ministers, find a new city logo and search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Now, a crowdsourcing platform called Tomnod is being used to pinpoint forest areas in Sumatra that are burning.
The technology developed by satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe, allows users to explore geospatial images and tag information that might be of use in various events, including natural disasters and search and rescue efforts.
“For example, when a natural disaster like Typhoon Haiyan strikes, DigitalGlobe activates a Tomnod campaign calling for volunteers to view imagery and tag any signs of damaged buildings, impassable roads, or other features of interest to assist in relief efforts,” said Luke Barrington, DigitalGlobe’s senior manager of Geospatial Big Data.
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