The
HALO Trust: Helping communities reclaim the
land with Google Maps for
Business
From time to time we invite guests to post about subjects of interest and today we’re pleased to share a post from Guy Willoughby, Executive Director of the HALO Trust, a U.K.-based **nprofit dedicated to landmine clearance in post-conflict areas. Hear how HALO is using Google Maps for Business to fight the war against mines, clearing more than 1.4 million landmines worldwide. -Ed.
When conflicts end, making
communities safe and livable often means removing dangerous remnants of war. “Getting mines out of the ground, for good,” as we say at the
HALO Trust, has been our mission over the last 25 years. We work in more than a dozen countries and regions across the globe, clearing landmines and other explosives, many of which have been buried underground. While we’ve been in operation for almost three decades, there is still more to be done.
In Kosovo, where people are reclaiming their homeland after the conflict in 1999, we’re working in close cooperation
with the government and local population to collect and share information about where mines are located. It’s a true community effort—farmers tell us where they’ve seen signs of mines and where accidents have occurred. It’s our job at the
HALO Trust to take this data and make it usable, accessible, and visually compelling, so clearance becomes more efficient and happens faster.
One of our biggest challenges is keeping our field teams safe. We need easy-to-use tools that can help us find, map and clear hazardous areas without putting our operations at risk. Over the years, we’ve continuously improved our mine clearance techniques, including the deployment of
Google Earth Pro.
Google Earth Pro makes it easier for the
HALO team to do the dangerous and detailed work of finding and mapping at-risk areas. Because it’s based on the same tech**logy as
Google Maps and Earth, it’s easy for our teams to use and create
Maps without IT or
GIS expertise. It’s a tool that is familiar to our employees and something they use in their daily lives, so we can start mapping right away.
The information we gather, including GPS references to landmines in the field, is imported into Earth Pro so that we can plot mine locations. We also use the incredibly detailed satellite imagery in
Google Earth to identify and map hazardous areas. These high-resolution
Maps serve many people: from families who live near mines, to crews who clear them, and do**rs and other organizations that support us. When do**rs view the vivid interactive
Maps of our project areas—with mines so close to schools, farms and houses—they understand why the
HALO Trust’s work is so critical.
Accurate
Maps from
Google Earth Pro mean safer working conditions for our local teams, and faster progress toward our goals. In Kosovo alone, we’ve ******* thousands of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives. And
with the help of Google’s mapping tools and our do**rs, we’ll be able to declare the country mine-free.
Posted by Guy Willoughby, Executive Director, the
HALO Trust
