GIS for Humanitarian Relief

This spring Development Seed will be working on several new tools for international development and humanitarian relief organizations to improve the mapping and data visualization options available and make them more sustainable and accessible. We’re looking for students or recent graduates who are excited about GIS, international aid, and about learning about the ways in which technology can help solve real-world problems.

The organizations we partner with rely on accurate and well-presented data to conduct the critical work they do every day. This internship provides a great opportunity for the right candidates to participate in generating real products that will be used on the ground in real development environments. Over the course of the project, interns will gain experience in project management, research, and with open source software and GIS.

We’re a young team who’s passionate about technology, open source software, and helping advance progressive causes by building better tools. We specialize in solving tough communications problems with technology and often develop brand new tools to do this right. We build almost exclusively with Drupal, and our mapping projects are no exception – they’re driven by Drupal and rely on open source projects like Mapnik, PostGIS, and OpenStreetMap. You can read more about us here and about our mapping work here.

We’re looking for someone who

  • Is excited about GIS and geospatial data visualization. A significant background in GIS is not required. We are just looking for someone who grasps the basics and is willing to work with us to learn more.
  • Has an understanding of the situations in which international development and humanitarian relief groups work
  • Is creative, resourceful, and able to take ownership over tasks assigned to them
  • Wants to work with closely with a passionate team to build amazing tools
  • Likes a fierce game of foosball

Key responsibilities will include:

  • Contributing to the OpenStreetMap project for a select group of countries where our partner organizations work
  • Research into other sources of GIS and demographic data
  • Writing short briefs on the humanitarian situation and availability of geospatial data for select countries

This can be either a full or part time internship depending on your availability, and we’ll need for you to be able to work with us in our office in NW DC. Compensation will depend on experience. Students, we can work with the university you attend to help you earn academic credit for the time you spend with us.

If this sounds like a good fit, please send a resume and a quick note explaining why you’re interested to Robert.