Finding prime locations to generate solar energy in India is one application of innovative mapping technology. Photo: hjl (flickr)

New mapping innovations are helping communities around the world make their way toward relief and opportunity.

Mapping where the sun shines: Solar energy is already on the rise in sun-soaked, energy-poor India, and the Indian government plans to help solar developers identify the country’s best hotspots for energy projects, according to The Economic Times. The fast-growing country hopes to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022, compared to just over 100 megawatts today.

One tool to get there? A solar atlas currently being developed by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology.

For solar developers, this means they can identify locations of optimal radiation intensity for power generation, and choose the best solar capture technology for each location. Mapping India's microclimates "will help us further optimise prediction,” said Vish Palekar, the chief executive officer of Mahindra Solar. “The entire ecosystem, with solar atlas mapping, will see companies like ours getting aggressive in the future.”

Other companies in India are also looking for a slice of the solar pie under the national solar strategy. The Economic Times reports that the strategy includes “financial incentives and subsidies to attract investment in this form of clean energy."

A new source of data, more accurate than sometimes outdated NASA radiation maps currently used to choose solar projects, will be a boost as intense as the summer sun.

Disaster risk reduction, in color: The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has developed a series of free, color-coded geohazard maps that identify areas as being "low, moderately or highly susceptible to floods, flash floods and landslides,” according to IRIN Asia.

With the country already highly susceptible to climate-related disasters, recent events like tropical storm Washi and the associated floods and severe erosion prompted the country's Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to make the maps widely available and accessible. "By making these geohazard maps available to anyone for free, we hope to give every community or individual access to information needed for assessing flooding and landslide risks,” MGB director Leo Jasareno told IRIN.

Geographic risk classifications were compiled with the help of base maps, satellite imagery, fieldwork and historical accounts of past disasters. And the MBG, in partnership with the nonprofit Environmental Science for Social Change, has more hazard-based mapping projects in mind, including models to predict further impacts of climate change.

Multinational corporations could benefit from geohazard maps to strategize where to locate new offices and factories, and international aid nonprofits could target their risk-reduction programs to areas predicted to be most at-risk.

Real-time connections aid post-disaster relief: Ushahidi, a Kenya-based nonprofit, has made mapping instant. Its new mapping software is fast, free and can be modified by anyone. The idea is ‘crowdsourcing,’ or enabling people around the world to “document and communicate information about their environment at ever increasing rates,” according to the Council of Foreign Relations' blog, Democracy in Development.

The result? Fast-moving information in post-disaster situations, and rapid, targeted responses.

“Ushahidi’s map was the best source of information for the humanitarian community” following the devastating Haiti earthquake, according to Democracy in Development. People “started posting reports of infrastructure damage, medical emergencies, locations where services were available, and incidents of violence” to a crisis map set up by Ushahidi volunteers, in partnership with Digicel, Haiti’s largest mobile phone service provider. U.S. Marines used the Ushahidi map as a resource in their rescue missions. Global Envision previously reported on additional mobile phone technology aiding in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Ushahidi’s crowdsourcing technology also broke onto the scene in Russia this past summer, creating a “Help Map” to coordinate assistance between wildfire victims and citizens who wanted to help. According to Ushahidi, “Shortly after the platform was launched, hundreds of citizens wrote in with appeals for help, [and] hundreds of people wrote in offering help”, creating a network of information that directed those in need to available resources in their regions.

In Russia, a more extensive interactive map network is already in place ahead of next summer’s wildfire season. And worldwide, Ushahidi’s open-data maps are crowdsourcing for success. Ushahidi’s mapping endeavors extend beyond crisis response, and last month the organization was named one of the top 10 NGOs in the world by the Globe Journal for its innovations.

Globally, these projects are creating a map for better management, economic opportunities and responses. After all, that’s the direction we all want to go.

RELATED: “Can Twitter and Wiki Maps help humaitarian aid?”
“Medic mobile turns cell phones into lifelines”

The use of technology in humanitarian aid planning is on the rise. Photo: Esther Gibbons (Flicker)

2011 is over, but the impact technology had on humanitarian aid planning last year could be just beginning to emerge.

Humanitarian issues demand immediate solutions. In 2011, a lot of solutions to crises placed heavy emphasis on technology. Here are three notable examples:

Disaster prone Bangladesh turned to GPS to provide early weather warnings to fishermen.

Airtel, a private mobile operator in Bangladesh will provide early weather warnings to fishermen using its global positioning system via cell phones in partnership with the Center for Global Change, the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and two international NGOs, according to IRIN.

More than half on Bangladesh’s population uses mobile phones. Early weather warnings could prove to be a life-saving tool. "75 percent of the country’s population lives in rural, disaster-prone areas, an ideal environment in which to exploit the potential of mobile phones to mitigate disasters," IRIN reported.

Technology has helped put Kibera on the map, literally.

Finding Kibera, a district of Nairobi, on a map before 2009 was not an easy task because it wasn’t on one. The location of schools, medical facilities, water points and other basic information was simply not available. As a result, The Map Kibera Project was created in order to provide this information. The goal: to train nine Kibera residents in using GPS devices to gather geographical information in a "citizen mapping" project.

Now this information is available on OpenStreetMap, a global map anyone can view and edit. Organizers plan to continue adding information on the map and eventually start mapping other communities.

Mobile phones have turned ordinary people into extraordinary philanthropists.

This past year, one of the worst famines in modern history struck the Horn of Africa. Humanitarian aid and donor government assistance poured in from all over the world. One campaign, "Kenyans for Kenya," set a goal to raise $5.28 million dollars in one month. Within 10 days, the goal was met and a bigger goal of $10.56 million set. By September 1, more than $7 million was collected, $1.6 million through private donations.
Contributions, most of them from Kenyan citizens and organizations, were made through a mobile phone money transfer service operated by telecom firm Safaricom. The money collected has been used to send money to affected areas through the Kenyan Red Cross Society, IRIN reports. This has been one of the most successful humanitarian fundraising campaigns Kenya has ever seen, and its efforts are ongoing.

These are only a few examples of how technology has positively impacted humanitarian responses to crises. Technology isn’t the answer to all the world’s problems, but it’s proving to be an effective tool.

A foreign domestic worker looks after her elderly client. Photo: Jerry Wong (flickr)

From low-tech light bulbs in the Philippines to microfinance in Nicaragua, our team of young writers covered lots of ground this year.

Here's a rewind on the themes that struck the strongest chords with readers, and the money quote from each piece. As we head into 2012, odds are that these big ideas will keep resonating.

Lack of electricity is a huge barrier to overcoming poverty by
Megan Kelly, Feb. 10:

As long as those hundreds of millions remain in the dark, they will remain poor," and yet bringing electricity to areas that have none lacks global funding and attention. It's not even part of the Millennium Development Goals.

Megan made a sweeping case for attention to energy poverty, a theme we've continued to cover.

Microfinance isn't a magic bullet by Laura Mortara, Jan. 24:

And any situation involving loan and credit is dangerous, especially when people are allowed to borrow irresponsibly. The failure of microfinance in India is largely due in part to MFI's shifting their focus from non-profit to profit-making industries and the corruption that follows thereafter. In addition to this, microfinance in India expanded way too quickly without the experience or infrastructure to support it.

Laura rounded up the previous year's run of bad news about the microfinance sector with a wealth of links to the best coverage.

Used soda bottles light up the world, for free by Brynn Opsahl, Aug. 18:

A used plastic bottle filled with water and a touch of bleach is placed in a hole of a tin roof. For up to five years, 50 watts of light fill up the once-gloomy windowless shack any time the sun is out

Brynn's look at this shockingly simple, effective idea was one of several articles to land in the Christian Science Monitor as part of a partnership we forged with them this year.

Does China's rise mean U.S. decline? by Chris Sharp, Feb. 4:

According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 44 percent of Americans believe China is already the world’s top economic power, compared to 27 percent who think it’s the U.S.

Chris's piece rebutted the popular cliche about China's looming global power, drawing on a post by Foreign Policy's Daniel Drezner to argue that the U.S.-China relationship is about interdependence, not domination.

The female remittance economy: A hidden global network of mothers and money by Eliza Slater, May 11:

Remittances are a significant part of an unofficial global aid network, worth $325 billion last year. That’s three times the size of official foreign development aid spending.

Eliza zoomed into the human scale of some staggering numbers, showing how shipping cash to one's relatives abroad has become, among other things, an important part of modern femininity around the world.

As we mentioned last week, Global Envision is planning some big new initiatives in 2012. Stay tuned—we're looking forward to talking with you about whatever comes next.

An image of an endocervical gland taken during a pap smear. Simple vinegar turns out to be a lower-cost alternative to tests like this one. Photo:Ed Uthman(flicker)

A common household item can serve a double purpose: it gives flavor in your kitchen, and it saves your life.

A low-cost innovation—vinegar— can help detect cervical cancer and save thousands of lives in developing nations.

Developed by the John Hopkins medical school in the 1990’s and endorsed by the World Health Organization, vinegar is brushed on a woman’s cervix. The vinegar causes precancerous spots to turn white, reports The New York Times.

The spots can be instantly frozen off with a metal probe cooled by a tank of carbon dioxide.

In the traditional Western test for cervical cancer, a pap smear, a scraping of the cervix is taken and sent to a lab for testing. High-quality labs are scarce in many poor countries, and waiting for results can take weeks. Woman who live in rural areas are hard to reach. The vinegar procedure, known as VIA/cryo, only requires a nurse and a single visit to detect and kill the cancer.

Each year, more than 250,000 women die from cervical cancer, 85 percent of them in poor or middle-income countries.

Solutions to problems don’t always have to be high-tech. A little creativity and ingenuity can go a long way.

British volunteers help plant rice in Bangladesh. Photo: Piers Brown (flickr)

Helping alleviate poverty while having an adventure in a developing country? Often, life-changing and highly educational experiences like these are usually luxuries for the wealthy. But they don’t have to be.

In the United States and Europe, it’s increasingly common for students and even families to spend a semester or a summer vacation volunteering in the villages, orphanages, or clinics of a developing country.

However, the associated expenses drastically narrow the volunteer pool. At a cost of about $3,000 plus airfare for a single month, volunteerism is usually regarded as a luxury for people in developed countries.

Voluntary Services Overseas, a UK-based charity, is working in the Philippines to change this.

According to an article from inquirer.net, VSO has sent more than 600 Filipino volunteers to other developing countries such as Nepal and Thailand.

"When it first started, people were saying, 'Why are we sending Filipinos out of the country? This is brain drain,'" VSO chief executive Marg Mayne told the Makati City-based newspaper. "But what happens is because they come back, they are making a difference in the Philippines because they become committed to the whole idea of fighting poverty."

The United Nations recognizes volunteerism as a powerful tool for turning people into global citizens. Programs like VSO make volunteerism attainable for ambitious citizens — no matter what their income may be.

Rags2Riches is helping Filipino women take back control of their livelihoods. Photo:fveronesi1 (flickr)

High-fashion designs are turning impoverished Filipino mothers into living-wage artisans.

The average daily wage for a nurse working in the Philippines is $7, but for women in Reese Fernandez-Ruiz’s Rags2Riches program, formerly impoverished mothers can make up to $12 a day, according to Fast Company. Rags2Riches solicits well-known Philippine designers and pairs them with local craftswomen. Working with the designers, the women produce their products with recycled materials in exchange for a premium wage. Fernandez-Ruiz, president and founding partner of Rags2Riches, was herself a poor working mother in one of the Philippines' worst dump sites (home to over 12,000 families) when she created the organization.

Aware that many women were selling foot rugs made from recycled fabric scraps (sourced from the local dump), and were often the victims of shady middlemen who provided and controlled the materials, Fernandez-Ruiz saw the opportunity for the women to take control. In an effort to gain momentum, she asked prominent Filipino designer Rajo Laurel to participate — to her surprise, he agreed. With such a prominent name attached to the project, more designers soon signed on.

Working with some of the Philippines' top designers has helped women boost their daily earnings from 20 cents to $12, said Fast Company. In addition, many are able to work from home, letting them care for their children while continuing to earn money. The organization also incorporates a "quality of life program," in which a portion of each worker's income is deposited into a bank account for future savings.

In its fourth year of operation, Rags2Riches has helped improve the lives and working conditions of over 450 women. It has improved the environmental conditions in the community with it's up-cycle, eco-ethical business model and has provided an invaluable opportunity to hundreds of women and their families.

To hear more about this inspiring business model, check out the video below:

Water, a little bleach and a plastic bottle are all Filipino entrepreneur Illac Diaz needs to light up the world. He's out to make lighting free and safe, one slum at a time.

Until now, nearly three million people in the Philippines have gone without electricity, according to philstar.com. Those with access often use unsafe or illegal technology, creating disastrous effects. For example, 2,520 electricity-related fires were reported in 2009. In the Philippines, through the My Shelter Foundation, Diaz is implementing Solar Bottle Bulbs to diminish these problems. A used plastic bottle filled with water and a touch of bleach is placed in a hole of a tin roof. For up to five years, 50 watts of light fill up the once-gloomy windowless shack any time the sun is out, Diaz told Reuters in the video above.

Although WattWatt.com reports that the idea originally started with mechanic Alfredo Moser of Brazil, who used the creation locally, Diaz attempts to spread it worldwide. With an MIT student design, Diaz has brought the appropriate technology farther, with his two-hour seminar about the simple product. The invention is something that is so simple, cheap and sustainable that anyone can create it and maintain it themselves. As Diaz says, the three rules of appropriate technology are that people can find it, they can replicate it, and most importantly, they can make a business of it. Not only does the Solar Bottle Bulb bring free, sustainable lighting to places that haven't had it before, they also create a new market for people to install the bulb at small costs.

The only downfall of the Solar Bottle Bulb is that the idea only works during the day. But that hasn't stopped nearly 300 households, small businesses and schools in San Pedro, Philippines, from installing the Solar Bottle Bulbs.