Geocoded RNI Activities in GeoJSON

This repository contains a data folder with a complete list of geocoded activities that were conducted as part of Ushahidi's Resilience Network Initiative ("RNI") in GeoJSON. GeoJSON is a great open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, which also allows for data to be previewed as a map via Github.

Data

The data folder contains:

• A polygon to denote the boundaries of the neighborhood of Purwodinatan, which was the focus of our work in Semarang, Indonesia. You can learn more about that project in this video, this blog post, or this timeline.
• A complete list of all activities conducted as part of RNI in GeoJSON.
• A complete list of all activities conducted as part of RNI in a table... for those who like that sort of thing.

Note that each record contains a field labeled "Geo Precision Code." The number provided corresponds to the International Aid Transparency Initiative's (IATI) geographical precision standard, which clarifies the accuracy and usage of geographical coordinates.

These data were created and used primarily as a method of real-time reporting to donors and other stakeholders and to document events that were of importance to complete various aspects of the overall project. Data were created using the Ushahidi platform (Github here | project deployment here) and replicated in the OpenExplorer platform (project deployment here) to provide multiple ways of interacting with the data.

Because this type of reporting was not a requirement for this project, there is no overarching definition of what constitutes an ‘activity.’ Some records may indicate a discreet event such as a contract signing, while others may denote the culmination of a series of discreet events that led to a project milestone or deliverable, such as the completion of a neighborhood map. We see this dataset as an example of the granularity that is possible for reporting and how we can be more open and transparent about how and where we work. This is a work in progress for us and I welcome feedback on how data creation of this type can be improved for various uses.

Data Creation Process for this Repository

The following steps were taken to convert data from an Ushahidi deployment (version 2) for this repository.

1. Downloaded data from the Ushahidi deployment.
2. Previewed data and corrected diacritical marks and other typographic symbols that did not display correctly in a spreadsheet editor. Also added the geographic precision code, which is part of a custom form in the Ushahidi deployment that did not automatically appear in the report download.
3. Because older Ushahidi deployments commonly offer .csv as a download default, I used this tool to convert .csv to GeoJSON.
4. Previewed and cleaned up resultant code with Mapbox's geojson.io, which also allowed me to...
5. save code directly to Github.

Additionally, Mapbox has another handy tool for converting .gpx files to GeoJSON.