Hurricane Florence – 2018, Hurricane Michael – 2018, Camp Fire Damage Data Consolidation
I stumbled upon the GISCorps in the week leading up to Hurricane Florence when we joined forces with NAPSG to help manage a Crowdsource Story Map. After working closely with other members of the GISCorps during Florence and then a few weeks later with Hurricane Michael, I knew that I wanted to become a member myself.
The Butte County Data Consolidation project was my first official GISCorps effort. I was a little apprehensive at first because I was working a tad bit out of my comfort zone. But I soon realized how this project was going to help not only the citizens of Butte County but also the personnel working to reestablish normal working order. It’s hard to put into words what helping with this project has done for me personally and I hope to use the things I learned to benefit the GISCorps going forward.
Volunteering is what fuels me and as a member of my local search and rescue team, Alpha SAR, I am able to help in and around Houston when the need arises. But by volunteering with the GISCorps I am able to help a much broader community. I think that in the moment you may not realize that something like geolocating photos or consolidating thousands of data points makes that much of an impact, but to the end users it means everything.
I urge anyone thinking about volunteering for a project to just do it! You won’t regret it!
