I am continuously impressed with UNOSAT’s ability to use satellite imagery in creative ways. On February 27th, UNOSAT released a satellite-derived estimation of the number of civilians leaving the Chadian capital of N’Djamena and heading towards the Cameroonian border. The satellite photos are simply stunning. This is the first set of images I have seen capturing the epic scale of refugee flows. Each point on the photo is an individual and each yellow box a vehicle. The UN estimates that one photo contains 10,200 pedestrians and 80 vehicles.
Using commercially and publicly available satellite images, UNOSAT, a UN program working with satellite images and GIS (geographic information systems) tracked fires causes by post election violence in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province. The resulting map offers an aerial snapshot of Kenya’s political violence and one of the most poignant maps I have seen in a while (click on the image to view the whole map, PDF).
This map depicts the chronology of detected active fire locations within the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya following the national elections on 27 Dec.2007. These fire locations were detected by the MODIS satellites covering the time period from 27 Dec. to 3 Jan.2008, and organized into 4 maps each covering a 2 day period. An evaluation has been made of the chronology and spatial context of this data, and it is probable that a majority of detected fires (peaking on 1 January 2008) are directly or indirectly linked to the electoral civil unrest.
Hat tip: Ryan Sheely