Credits are due to Ushahidi

Without intention of coming off biased, the developers of Ushahidi need the applause they deserve for the kind of service they implement. Ushahidi has definitely revolutionised geo-mapping in conflict stricken spots with the latest of them being the Haiti disaster. Originally, and according to the Ushahidi website, the website was developed in Kenya to map out incidents of violence in Kenya when the country found itself stuck in one of the bloodiest post-election fall-outs at the beginning of 2008.

The strength of the website comes from its apparent ease of use given this age of improved internet connectivity. Incidents can be reported through text messaging a local or international number, directly through email, on twitter and through a web form available on their website(for instance in the Haiti page).

As simple as it may seem, the site has found a place far out in the wider world which only serves as a clear demonstration that every country has its mettle in this increasingly globalising world of today. In this case, Kenya, wins the lime light for a product that is as good as any in quality and to make the cake even bigger and sweeter, all code is open-source.

Ushahidi, is a Swahili word for 'testimony'.  Credit to all the developers involved in the project primarily in Kenya and elsewhere worldwide.

Read more about Ushahidi on their website.

The New York Times has recently written on this as well:

"And an important force behind this upheaval is a small Kenyan-born organization called Ushahidi, which has become a hero of the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes and which may have something larger to tell us about the future of humanitarianism, innovation and the nature of what we label as truth.
After Kenya’s disputed election in 2007, violence erupted. A prominent Kenyan lawyer and blogger, Ory Okolloh, who was based in South Africa but had gone back to Kenya to vote and observe the election, received threats about her work and returned to South Africa. She posted online the idea of an Internet mapping tool to allow people anonymously to report violence and other misdeeds. Technology whizzes saw her post and built the Ushahidi Web platform over a long weekend.
The site collected user-generated cellphone reports of riots, stranded refugees, rapes and deaths and plotted them on a map, using the locations given by informants. It collected more testimony — which is what ushahidi means in Swahili — with greater rapidity than any reporter or election monitor."