Integrating SMS-based data entry with geographical visualization: a TED demo
For the past couple weeks, we've been very busy putting together a prototype that was running at an InSTEDD booth in the prestigious TED conference. Of anecdotal interest is the fact that it's the first time in TED's history that such a demo is run remotely from South America (Buenos Aires, Argentina, in this case :)).
The purpose was to show how deep-field data collection can be performed using ubiquitous and generally cheap (in some places even free!) text messages from cell phones (a.k.a. SMS), and how that data can be surfaced quite easily in geographically meaningful representations (i.e. Google Earth, Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth) to support decision making in scenarios such as pandemic/outbreak detection and disaster/emergency responses. Also very important was to show that such a mechanism by no means has to be one-way....