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9/30/2005 (Washington, DC and New Orleans, LA) – Chief of Operations, Oscar Larson, has been working with a number of clients in developing custom map products. For those companies and individuals who have chosen Cartisan to design their maps for the first time, we would like to extend our thanks and look forward to working with you again soon.
Chief Cartographer Brody Dittemore, however, has been in New Orleans and the surrounding gulf region providing aid maps and GIS products to those affected by the recent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After working with a number of aid consortiums, including URISA and Global MapAid, it came to Brody’s attention that many direct needs of people in the area were not being met on the ground. He’s been there making maps for 12 days, and has this to say:
"The major organizations such as FEMA, Louisiana State University, Red Cross, City of New Orleans, and parish and state governments have mobilized, but they’ve developed a significant obstacle for themselves. These organizations are utilizing information systems, and many have GIS groups, including contractors and mapping volunteers such as from URISA. They can tell you how high the flood levels were, what infrastructure was damaged, etc. But what they can’t tell a person is where the hell they should go to get help. They’ve devoted their resources in the wrong way.
"You have millions of displaced people, families, whole cities, up heaved from their normal environments. Even if their house was spared, the food markets, water sources, transportation routes, phone systems…you name it: that stuff doesn’t exist any more.
“These organizations aren’t looking at the situation from a humanist approach. It’s infrastructure to them. The help they’re providing is a blinded cookie cutter approach: they’ll set up an aid distribution point, and people can go there to get water, food, clothes, you name it…but they won’t tell people where they are, how to get there, or where else to go to get assistance." How are people who confronted the floods supposed to establish a sense of normalcy or empowerment when they are not given the tools or information to solve the situation for themselves?
“That’s where aid maps come in. As an outsider, I’m capable of driving around a city and plotting the distribution points, temporary police stations, health clinics, shelters and community kitchens. I’ve been across three states, urban and rural. You plot those points, put them on a map, and have thousands printed. Then go and canvas neighborhoods, putting aid maps in the hands of residents, displaced persons, and aid providers. I can’t even count the number of times aid providers, Red Cross workers, police officers, and National Guardsmen have thanked me for informing them, the people that the affected community is now relying on, where they can send people to get help, or where they themselves can go.
“It is not all about infrastructure: it has to be about people.”
In order to raise awareness of the disaster and the recovery, Brody has been keeping a blog of his experiences: www.brodyinneworleans.blogspot.com. If you'd like to read other press releases by Cartisan's map staff, click here.
To contact Cartisan's cartographers, please email us at maps@cartisan.com.