Open Source Helps Earthquake Victims in Haiti
The OpenRouteService team at the University of Heidelberg has responded to the catastrophic situation of victims and destroyed infrastructure following the earthquake in Haiti by providing recovery forces with a new version of its live routing service.
Dr. Alexander Zipf's working group at the university took only two days to make the current version of its service available. The free online route planner OpenRouteService.org now recognizes destroyed roads on the Caribbean island and is being constantly fed with current data. New information arrives at least hourly in the database that is updated by Pascal Neis, Johannes Lauer, and their coworkers in the Geographic Information System faculty at the Heidelberg university. The first version of the new routing service is on the OpenGIS Location Service (OpenLS) project page.
In the summer of 2008, the working group under Alexander Zipf published an article in the German version of this magazine describing their work and the power of OpenStreetMap, OpenRouteService, and the ensuing route planning service for recovery efforts as requested by the UN following the devastation from Hurricane Ike.
Assistance in the project for Haiti is welcome. The WikiProject Haiti is seeking help in identifying place names and streets for the OpenStreetMap project.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
KDE Linux Drops AUR
KDE Linux developers have dropped the Arch User Repository from the build pipeline due to security concerns; other distributions should consider doing the same.
-
California May Exempt Linux from Its Age-Verification Law
After backlash from the Linux community, California may be backing off on its promise to force all operating systems to verify age, but one platform may still have to comply.
-
Another Logic Bug Found in Linux Kernel
Qualys has discovered a vulnerability in the Linux kernel that can be used to elevate standard user privileges.
-
Ubuntu Core 26 Offers Game-Changing Enterprise Features
Ubuntu Core 26 could be a game-changer for organizations looking for increased security and reliability.
-
AI Flooding the Linux Kernel Security Mailing List
AI is giving Linus Torvalds a headache, but not in the way you might think.
-
Top Priorities for Open Source Pros Seeking a New Job
Professional fulfillment tops the list, according to LPI report.
-
Container-Based Fedora Hummingbird Designed for Agent-First Builders
Fedora Hummingbird brings the same approach to the host OS as it does to containers to level up security.
-
Linux kernel Developers Considering a Kill Switch
With the rise of Linux vulnerabilities, the kernel developers are now considering adding a component that could help temporarily mitigate against them… in the form of a kill switch.
-
Fedora 44 Now Gaming Ready
The latest version of Fedora has been released with gaming support.
-
Manjaro 26.1 Preview Unveils New Features
The latest Manjaro 26.1 preview has been released with new desktop versions, a new kernel, and more.