UNICEF is leveraging geospatial technologies in order to geo-enable UNICEF’s data, systems and processes to transform data into easily accessible, readily available and actionable geospatial information. Such information is essential to address key questions, such as: “How many children are affected by climate change?”, “Where children have limited access to schools AND limited access to health services?” to support evidence-based advocacy and decision-making for better results for children.
UNICEF has adopted a hybrid geospatial architecture, benefiting from both commercial and open-source GIS solutions. Open-source approach allows us to have more flexibility and enables cost-effective scalability of corporate GIS systems, making them available to all UNICEF users.
GeoSight is an open-source web geospatial data platform developed by UNICEF for easy data visualization and analysis. It is specifically designed to simplify the creation of online maps for visualizing multiple indicators at a subnational level to support evidence-based decision-making. Using GeoSight, UNICEF users and partners can easily overlay multiple indicators representing various thematic areas, such as natural hazards, climate-related risks, but also conflicts, health, education, poverty and other socio-economic indicators.
GeoSight is developed using Django backend and React at a frontend. It has a robust backend interface where users can manage indicator data, basemaps, contextual layers, styles as well as create new projects (dashboards) for publishing data. A dashboard is the main GeoSight product for end-users to interact with the data. It is consists of an interactive map (developed using MapLibre) with multiple indicator layers representing various statistics, typically at national or subnational levels. Indicator layers can be queried and analyzed at different administrative levels (e.g. province or district) at a specific date and time. Additionally, users can cross-query multiple indicators using filters. The map may also contain contextual layers (which can be any point, line, polygon or raster layers) as well as custom basemaps.
GeoSight has a robust API that allows for system-to-system integrations. This is a powerful feature, which is used for creating automated data pipelines that feed in data from multiple sources and make them available for all users.
GeoSight is a self-service platform that equips UNICEF users at all country offices with an easy to use and powerful geospatial analytical system. The platform has been already used to support UNICEF response in many emergency contexts, including Ukraine and Gaza. It is also used as a dissemination tool for global and regional initiative such as Child Climate Risk Index-Disaster Risk Model (CCRI-DRM), WASH Insecurity Analysis (WIA) and many others.
“UNICEF has over 70-year history of innovating for children and believes that new approaches, partnerships, and technologies that support the realization of children’s rights are critical to improving their lives. Early on, UNICEF established guiding principles for innovation and technology in development, which influences the Principles for Digital Development. One of these – Use Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation – explicitly advocates for the licensing of open source software to enable greater impact in international development and cooperation. This Principle has guided UNICEF’s approach in creating, investing in, and supporting innovations” (https://www.unicef.org/innovation/dpg-pathfinding-countries). Following this principle, UNICEF has made GeoSight source code publicly available under the terms of an AGPL-3.0 license.
Open source approach is also one of the key elements of the Frontier Data Network - UNICEF’s strategic initiative designed to promote innovation and capacity building in data science, helping us make data-driven decisions that truly benefit children. Open source solutions are part of how we offer the underlying capabilities that are necessary to actually enable the production and provision of solutions.
We believe that GeoSight can benefit many organizations, both private, NGOs and public, not only in the humanitarian and development sectors. We would like to encourage organizations and individual developers to contribute to GeoSight project and help us and our partners leverage open-source geospatial technology to support the lives of children around the world.