High-resolution up-to-date maps help prevent and mitigate disasters for half a million residents of the world’s largest refugee camp.
Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, has existed since 1991, but an influx of refugees fleeing persecution put pressure on the area’s resources. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) use drone mapping and Pix4D to help ease some of these logistical issues.
“There were no maps here before,” explains Sebastian Ancavil, IOM GIS Officer. “Before the August 2017 influx of refugees, it was a rural area and no detailed maps were made. The camp has grown from a few thousand to more than a hundred thousand shelters.”
As of January 2019, the OpenStreetMap database lists around 150,000 shelters.