Reports on this week’s advance by rebel forces on Tripoli have been marred by uncertainty and misinformation on the power and position of both opposition and pro-Gaddafi forces. Reports coming from within Gaddafi strongholds of the city suggest that there is still a heavy presence of pro-Gaddafi supporters armed and ready to fight. Saif Al-Islam, the son of Gaddafi initially said to have been captured by rebels, gave a defiant interview to members of the international press confirming that many in the city were still ready to fight in support of the Gaddafi family.
Because members of the international press cannot move freely and safely throughout Tripoli it’s difficult for them to accurately establish the realities of this final fight. One solution however to this challenge is to create a crisis map. Crisis maps enable us to get a better and fuller picture of crises as they unfold. Crisis maps work through crowd-sourcing reports from inside the affected area. The information is verified by several reports offering identical information and is then marked out on a map of the area.
Several organisations have been responsible for creating online Libya crisis maps including Global Map Aid, Ushahidi and ICT4Peace. You can find these maps in the link section of this site.
If you are in Libya and want to provide information to support the Google Map: The Battle for Tripoli, LIBYA you can tweet information to @k_thos.
Communication Crisis 