The HALO Trust said the technology was easy to use and is now being used everyday by teams in areas such as Afghanistan, Kosovo and Zimbabwe.
The interactive tools, in particular Google
Earth Pro, allow the charity to identify and plot mined areas as well as create
maps for donors, governments and NGOs.
The maps help ensure that communities in
countries affected by war avoid the horrific injuries caused by hidden mines
and are able to reclaim land for farming that has been declared safe.
Guy Willoughby, executive director of the
HALO Trust, explained in a blog posthow the charity is putting the
technology to use.
"Google Earth Pro makes it easier for
the HALO team to do the dangerous and detailed work of finding and mapping
at-risk areas," he said.
"Because it’s based on the same
technology 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."
HALO is the world's oldest and largest
humanitarian landmine clearance operation.
Since its creation in Afghanistan in 1988
it has cleared over 13 million landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
HALO employs more than 8,000 across the
world in areas such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kosovo, Laos, Mozambique, Armenia
and Zimbabwe.
Luan Jaupi, HALO IT and GIS desk officer,
said: “Maps and the map-making process – once the property only of geographers
and GIS specialists – have now become the property of the masses."
"Google Earth has become a critical
information management tool for the work done by HALO. It is being used every
day by the teams in the field, data and operations managers, and decision
makers.
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