Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) have partnered to conduct drone mapping in Turkana County, focusing on Kakuma refugee camps and Kalobeyei Integrated settlement and Center. The project activities kicked off on 1st November 2022 with a stakeholder awareness session, where the stakeholders were briefed on the project objectives and expected outputs. They were also engaged in an interactive session where they advised on community engagement and potential sites for drone takeoff/landing areas.
The three-week activity involves utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to collect high-resolution aerial imagery in approximately 76 square kilometers, which will then be used to build a machine-learning model to help update maps of the Turkana region. This data has immense uses, from infrastructure planning to mapping high-risk areas and providing early intervention measures.
The International Center for Humanitarian Affairs(ICHA)’s Innovation Officer, Swabira Abdulrazak, notes, “The Wingtra Gen II is a powerful drone and a more definite and accurate way of getting this data. We also use certain software for packaging the data and making it available.”
KRCS aims to work with HOT and other stakeholders to disseminate the planned drone missions, align objectives and ensure community engagement and sensitization before and during the drone missions.
All the data sets will be available on the Open Street Map platform to all stakeholders and community members.
