Spatial News Aggregator API - harvesting data for geotagged news

6

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Build a news data harvesting, spatial analysis and dissemination based platform with API output, integrated with already existing Virtual Kenya platform.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

There are projects focused on collecting and aggregating information, though few are basing it on geographic data integration with other map based datasets using GIS and presenting the results as indicator data and heat maps, overlaid with actual stories.

3. Describe the real world challenge that you are trying to solve for African media [50 words]

The API will give media/public a platform which harvests real-time information i.e. breaking-news, tweets etc. with other published data such as census, research reports, ushahidi feeds, disaster information and climate data. Integration of such data into indicators will allow for analysis of bigger picture stories both historical and potentially projected also in a visually compelling way.

4. How and why will your solution work? [100 words]

The platform will be built on open web services as used in VirtualKenya.org. Besides the map layers it serves up, the tool will integrate data collected using a customised Android based mobile application. Together with geocoded external feeds, all of these sources will be aggregated using GIS geoprocessing services which will render indicator data for administrative areas. These new time stamped layers will be served up through an interactive dashboard with corresponding graphs and snippets, and also availed through the API, which allows websites and mobile apps to pull in any data. We believe these are tools the media in Africa needs.

5. Who is working on it? [100 words]

Upande Ltd. comprises of a team of project managers, GIS experts and software developers, and was founded in 2009 to provide Internet, web mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) solutions to the local, African and global market place. Our clients range from businesses, UN organizations, government and non government organizations and the academia and research sector. Upande helps organizations achieve high standards of mapping of social, ethical, infrastructural and environmental.
Upande team on the project include:
Mark de Blois- MD Upande ltd
Allan Maungu/Kellen Kinyua- Software developer
Luchiri Omoto/Francis Warui/Bernadette Ndege- GIS consultant

6. What part of the project have you already built? [100 words]

Android based data collection is largely built and needs to be customized for different categories of news reporting and pushed directly to our spatial database. Then it will be pushed to the mapping dashboard in real-time such similar to UN-Habitat’s water quality app. Code from mapping dashboards exist, such as the one for the Urban Inequity Survey.
Open geoprocessing services are now required, as well as the further opening up of all the data through a newly built Application Programming Interface (API).
Integration building blocks from tools such as LRACrisisTracker and TileMill custom tiles will help develop an attractive tool that no media organization can do without.

7. How would you sustain the project after the funding expires? [50 words]

• Customized instances to interested media houses across Africa.
• In depth analysis of the data to interested firms and organisations.
• Relevant advertisements on the website tied to user profiles.
• Future paid API Pro usage
• Training on use of tool and simple data manipulation to journalists along the lines of the two data bootcamps we have participated in.

Requested amount from ANIC: $ 100,000 
Expected amount of time required to complete project: 12 months
Total Project Cost: $ 120,000

Name: mark@upande.com, luchiri@upande.com, allan@upande.com
Twitter:  @luchirio, @mdeblois, @virtualkenya, @upande
Organization: Upande ltd.
Country: Kenya