Our friend and colleague Kurt Menke of Bird’s Eye View GIS recently conducted a workshop in Hawaii working with folks from the Pacific Islands (Samoa, Marianas, Palau, and others) to teach Fulcrum data collection and QGIS for mapping. Seeing our tech have these kinds of impacts is always enjoyable to read about:

The week was a reminder of how those of us working with technology day-to-day sometimes take it for granted. Everyone was super excited to have this training. It was also a lesson in how resource rich we are on the continent. One of my goals with Bird’s Eye View is to use technology to help make the world a better place. (Thus my focus on conservation, public health and education.) One of the goals of the Community Health Maps program is to empower people with technology. This week fulfilled both and was very gratifying.

Most of the trainees had little to no GIS training yet instantly knew how mapping could apply to their work and lives. They want to map everything related to hurricane relief, salt water resistant taro farms, infrastructure related to mosquito outbreaks etc. A benefit of having the community do this is that they can be in charge of their own data and it helps build community relationships.