UNOSAT, the United Nation's in-house satellite intelligence team has published a new map of urban flooding in Rosso, Mauritania. The map can be download as Low Res or High Res PDF.

This urban focus map illustrates satellite-detected areas of probable flood waters and flood-affected areas within the city of Rosso, Mauritania as based on change detection methods using Formosat-2 data acquired 16 September, and pre-crisis Spot-5 imagery acquired 10 November 2008.The primary locations of flood waters affecting the city are located in the northern and eastern edge of the urban zone.

Crisis mapping, once the exclusive tool of national intelligence services, is increasingly becoming more open source and affordable. The budding field is drawing interest from academics, policymakers, and practitioners. The first international conference on crisis mapping is taking place in October.