A few weeks ago, when I was doing some investigation on web mapping, I came across something called Ushahidi. This is an open source platform that was originally set up to map and monitor violence reports in Kenya. From this it has evolved into a crisis mapping platform that can also be used for any other purpose where there might be a need to combine different sources of information concerning current events. To make things a bit easier to use, the people behind Ushahidi have recently launched a simpler version called Crowdmap and so I decided that Wednesday's general strike would be a good opportunity to test how the technology works.
With Crowdmap you can set up your own site for the event you want to map, and this morning I set up a specific site for the general strike - you can find it here. I've already added some information mostly for Barcelona and Madrid, but this is a project where anyone can participate. So, because one is definitely not a crowd, I invite anyone else who is interested to join in by supplying information about the strike. The examples I've already added include minimum services, flights that are cancelled, political reactions, groups who have decided to join the strike etc. The categories of information are configurable and still being developed. Reports can be emailed to me, submitted directly via the site (I haven't tested that yet) or I just pick them up from Twitter hashtags. Apart from joining in, feel free to publicise the crowdmap page to anyone who you think might be interested.
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