IWG-SEM Minutes.pdf

The International Working Group on Satellite-based Emergency Mapping (IWG-SEM) held its 2015 Autumn meeting in Vienna, hosted by UNOOSA. The meeting discussed various topics, including review of the rolling action list, membership policy, guidelines, social media, collaborative mapping efforts, damage tagging, and outreach activities. Key points include:

Review of the rolling action list, with suggestions to prioritize and focus on key actions, and to use a collaborative tool like Trello to assign tasks.
Discussion on private sector membership, with concerns about steering the group and fundraising, but also benefits of collaboration and data provision.
Conclusion that private sector participants are welcome as long as they actively contribute and adhere to the non-profit spirit of the group.
Review of guidelines, with a focus on testing the application of guidelines during non-emergency times.
Discussion on joint exercises, with a proposal to focus on reference data and to bring joint damage tagging into an H2020 call.
Outreach activities, with actions to prepare a document and presentation, and to exchange PowerPoint presentations.
* Review of other action items, including feedback, mapping symbology, feed aggregator, and early warning systems.