MapAction Honours Esri UK Volunteer with Historical Olympic Torch Relay Leg

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By MapAction | 26 July 2012 | 74

Wai-Ming (Ming) Lee a skilled GIS professional working for Esri UK will, today, on behalf of disaster mapping charity MapAction, carry the Olympic Torch in front of Buckingham Palace, one of the most prestigious legs of the Olympic Torch Relay, the night before the opening of the London Olympic Games 2012.  The organisers are expecting thousands of people to enjoy the proceedings at Buckingham Palace around 6pm, where the relay will also be viewed by Prince Harry along with the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.

MapAction create and distribute ‘real-time’ re-mapped areas of disaster zones which are crucial in helping governments, the United Nations and aid agencies to deploy resources and channel aid as quickly as possible, to people left in desperate need after devastating disasters. Esri UK is proud to support MapAction, supplying the latest GIS technology to create these new maps.

Ming joined MapAction in 2004 and has been deployed to such humanitarian emergencies as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and the Pakistan floods of 2010.  When he’s not flying out to disaster zones, Ming helps the charity develop its technical capabilities, so its operations are as streamlined and effective as possible.  

MapAction’s patron, Prince Harry, was asked by the Olympic Torch relay organisers to choose one of his charities to take part in the relay at Buckingham Palace on July 26th. Prince Harry invited MapAction to carry the torch on his behalf, and Ming has been given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch in front of Buckingham Palace.

To celebrate Ming’s achievements Esri UK has developed a map on ArcGIS Online showing the torchbearers’ journeys around the UK, with a live photo feed from Flickr showing each day’s events.  To find out how you can quickly and easily create a map that can be viewed in a browser, shared in a blog or via an email, or embedded in a website, go to www.arcgis.com