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Humanitarian UAV Pilots Network

Posted by Patrick Meier on March 12, 2014 at 3:20am

Hi All, 

I've been working at the intersection of technology & humanitarian response for 10+ years. I'm now launching a volunteer network to connect responsible civilian UAV pilots who are interested in safely and legally supporting humanitarian efforts when the need arises. I’ve been thinking through the concept for months now and have benefited from great feedback. The result is this draft strategy document; the keyword being draft. The concept is still being developed and there’s still room for improvement. So I very much welcome more constructive feedback.

Click here to join the list-serve for this initiative, which I’m referring to as the Humanitarian UAViators Network. Thank you for sharing this project far and wide—it will only work if we get a critical mass of UAV pilots from all around the world. Of course, launching such a network raises more questions than answers, but I welcome the challenge and believe members of UAViators will be well placed to address and manage these challenges.

More on me & my background here: iRevolution.net/bio

Thank you!

 

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Tags: disaster, humanitarian, response
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Replies

  • Moderator
    Michael Pursifull March 12, 2014 at 4:45am
    I know you're a member of dcdug, and dugn, why the duplication of effort? Are you also advertising this listserv there? Because I haven't seen it.

    Have you talked to Timothy or Christopher about this initiative? The can launch you further than you can get with a forum post. Trying to contribute to you in a meaningful way, that is the intent of my questions.
    • Patrick Meier > Michael Pursifull March 12, 2014 at 4:59am

      Many thanks for your reply, Michael. Yes, Timothy is a colleague and he provided great feedback on earlier drafts of the strategy document. He has also kindly offered to advertise on other list-serves. This is not duplicative, UAViators has a very specific humanitarian focus and is geared towards fostering a direct collaboration with humanitarian organizations. 

      Thanks again for your questions.

  • Alain March 12, 2014 at 3:32am

    Hey Patrick,

    Very interesting project indeed, you should have a look here: http://hot.openstreetmap.org/ they do disaster mapping and would be very interested in such project I believe.

    I would be myself very interested to join, please let me know how I can help

    Regards

    Alain

    • Patrick Meier > Alain March 12, 2014 at 3:42am

      Thanks for the quick reply, Alain! Yes, I know the HOT OSM folks well, we collaborated in response to the Haiti Earthquake back in 2010 and in response several other disasters since. They're sending me some UAV imagery from Tacloban (Philippines) for project very much related to UAViators. 

      Many thanks for your kind offer to help! I'd be super grateful for any feedback you may have on the strategy document. 

      Thanks again,

      Patrick

      • Alain > Patrick Meier March 12, 2014 at 3:54am

        You're very welcome, I need to take a bit of time going through your draft, and I'll come back to you

        Alain

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