Space Apps Challenge 2017

Maji Maji is a web application that aims to save lives by providing crucial information before flooding occurs;

By predicting storm intensity, mapping out the flooding hotspots, then map out landing zones, safe routes and relief centers around the area of Budalangi in Western Kenya. This approach has been discussed below:

• map out flood hotspots
• monitor river buffer zones
• alert immediate users of impending danger (flood)
• guide users to safe zones
• map out safe routes
• direct relief services to affected areas/victims
• map out nearest relief centers
• map out landing spots for air support

Conquer the storm, survive the storm, stay above the water!

-maji maji

Relief Centers

We used filtering to find health centers available around Budalangi. The level of health centers were from sub-county level hospitals. The essence of finding these health centers is that it is a big percentage of people would require medical assistance and also act as a safe haven.

Buffer Zone

The buffer mainly describes the area of interest. The river Nzoia is known to break through its banks and it is the main reason of floods around Budalangi area. The buffer zone is therefore an area to be monitored closely. Maji Maji project has set buffers along river Nzoia a distance of 400 meters on both sides of the river.

Emergency Landing zones

This was achieved by considering the height above sea level (altitude). The minimum altitude set for safe landing was 1000meters. The contour lines helped us to locate a relatively level ground which is close to the area of flooding. It is therefore possible to carry out rescue missions around the regions prone to flooding.

Routes

This was considered so as to let people know which routes are unsafe. Routes were considered unsafe if

1. Along the way there is an area prone to flooding. It will therefore avoid people being trapped in between flooded areas.
2. If the routes are below the altitude which has experienced flooding. This can prevent people being exposed to flash floods.

Social Media User Using Twitter API a user takes a photo of the affected area, then tags the location and tweets @__MajiMaji

SMS Push service

Alerts are sent to users who don't have smartphones to access the application. Once the live feed indicates heavy rains in the coming future sms are sent to the users so as to warn them to adequately prepare and also provide them emergency contacts. We used a sms gateway tool service to send alerts to multiple users.

Project Majimaji source: https://github.com/gabrieldwight/Project-Budalangi...

ESRI maps source

Live feed: http://arcg.is/eqeGS

Buffer Zones: http://arcg.is/08WvCy

Relief Centres: http://arcg.is/0uyTOW

Emergency Landing Zones: http://arcg.is/0D8OKy

Paths/ footpaths: http://arcg.is/08WvCy