How free #OpenSource software tools bailed out a disaster recovery team in #Turkeyhttps://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2023/spring/ground-zero-navigating-in-freedom

[peter_link@expressional.social]

How free #OpenSource software tools bailed out a disaster recovery team in #Turkey
https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2023/spring/ground-zero-navigating-in-freedom

from #FreeSoftwareFoundation Bulletin
Spring 2023

At ground zero, #OpenStreetMap provided us with the mapping that we very much needed. When I was finally...deployed on the field, nobody was yet able to navigate properly. Along with much of our critical equipment, our dedicated GPS devices were sent somewhere else because the location of the earthquake's epicenter was misjudged, and almost all the personnel were trying to use their data connection to download the same maps over and over again in order to respond to every direction given by the command center. It was in this setting that I introduced a powerful free software tool called "OsmAnd~" (#OSM for Android), along with pre-downloaded maps that I had on my handheld device, which I was using to flawlessly navigate through the city.

When others saw this, it was received by the group as "magic."

#FLOSS #FreeSoftware