Today, a quick update on local trends doesn’t need to be tedious, thanks to the recent emergence of crowdsourced report maps. A perfect example is Kenyan platform Ushahidi, which local developers and bloggers built in 2008 to trace post-election violence using Google Maps. To date, the US-registered non-profit has been used to track the BP oil spill, Nigerian elections and Japan’s earthquake, while its open source code has enabled similar maps worldwide.
Naturally, Google itself also tracks salient global trends. Also in 2008, the tech giant released a Flu Tracker that analysed search trends for flu-related queries to track the virus’s international spread. This winter, as a flu epidemic engulfed the US, turning states from orange to red on its heat map, Google Flu Tracker was able to alert populations – and insurance companies – weeks ahead of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Now, geolocalised, crowdsourced maps are one of the hottest trends sweeping the Arab world. Following recent political and social transformation, several have cropped up in the region this year. They’re being used to monitor ongoing conflict, controversial elections, violence, harassment and that other urgent topic – weather.
When next in need of a conversation starter, our handy list of sources below will help you reach for a bit of math on the region’s most pressing issues.
Ma2too3a!
Lebanese mobile app Ma2too3a! launched this August to offer the community updates on local incidents, from outbreaks of violence to traffic jams. Its crowdsourced map pinpoints entries from local Twitter posts and direct reports. The app initially grew in popularity during Beirut’s tumultuous summer, so it’s optimised to inform you if a tyre burning or road closure could impede your day. Yet, in hopes of a calmer future, the application’s founders are now focusing on providing daily traffic updates.
7arat
Just in time for the Jordan’s Parliamentary elections last month, 7arat launched to offer the Jordanian public an opportunity to report on voting fraud or election-related violence. A quick glance reveals a snapshot of general online discourse in Jordan as well, as the app tags relevant news posts on Twitter, by user location. In the future, it will showcase trends in gender violence and corruption, gleaned from SMS, Twitter, phone calls, and emails.
Syria Deeply
When Armenian-American reporter Lara Setrakian built in-depth news platform Syria Deeply, she felt a personal calling. “To see the Syrian crisis so chronically misunderstood by an American audience was not acceptable,” she has explained. The site, which launched in December, showcases historical background, personal narratives, news in context, and a map revealing the numbers of trending videos, refugees and fatalities related to the Syrian conflict.
HarassMap
Women travelling to Egypt may want to glance at HarassMap, a crowdsourced map that reveals reports from women who have been harassed on the street. By revealing incidents by location and training local neighbourhoods to prevent harassment, the non-profit hopes to enhance societal transparency. In the aftermath of the revolution, it might serve as one unofficial barometer of the current climate on the ground in Egypt.
Metwit
A graduate of Dubai-based accelerator SeedStartup, Metwit offers a map of hyperlocal, real-time weather updates from a global population. Active in cities throughout the world, the app allows users to predict coming storms (or sunshine) by tracking geolocated updates from other users. By interacting with others who are posting updates, users can also develop networks - and potentially social connections - when travelling to new cities. It may not be documenting a conflict, but this startup offers data for daily use and for wherever you travel.
