Students in the ASU YouthMappers chapter use geospatial data to help organizations respond to the disaster
From a conference room on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, a group of students have found a way to help survivors of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The students are members of YouthMappers ASU, who are part of a rapidly growing global network of 354 university chapters in 72 countries who mapped specific regions in the hardest hit areas of the two countries.
The United Nations estimated that 1.5 million people were left homeless in the wake of the Feb. 6 disaster.
“They (humanitarian groups) need to know what is happening where,” said Patricia Solis, faculty mentor for the group’s ASU’s chapter. Solis is a co-founder and director of YouthMappers.
“By making communities and the built environment visible, then they can respond better,” said Solis, who is also the executive director of ASUs Knowledge Exchange for Resilience.
In the weeks following the quake, buildings were flattened and roads were in ruins. There were massive infrastructure failures throughout both countries. Without maps, it was impossible for charitable groups like Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross to find people and provide them with food, shelter and medical supplies.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to help those providing humanitarian aid,” said Bryan Leyba, president of YouthMappers ASU. “And to do all of it from afar.”
Every Friday at noon for the last few weeks, Leyba — along with about a dozen YouthMappers ASU members — met at the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health for some marathon mapping, or, as they like to call it, “mappy hour.”
There, the student-led group used geospatial data — time-based information about specific locations in Syria and Turkey — to respond to the natural disaster.
The team used Open Street Map — an open-source platform that combines satellite ry and computing technologies to provide free, accessible and up-to-date maps of the world.
The platform can be contributed to by anyone and utilized in a myriad of ways. For example, recent ry can be compared to older ry to identify changes on the Earths surface, a capability that is especially useful after a natural disaster like an earthquake.
Non-government and aid organizations can create tasks related to their specific data needs, which are then provided to the Open Street Map community to complete.
Maps are available and accessible to everyone concurrently. ASU students worked alongside students around the world, and contributed, created and added spatial data to the tasks in progress.
Once maps are completed, they are officially verified to ensure accuracy before being released to the charitable organizations.
“We are working with mappers all around the world and updating maps as fast as we can,” said Natalia Arruda, a graduate student in urban planning in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Open Street Map can identify buildings that have fallen on the road and provide information about the condition of roads which may not be operable.
“Surprisingly there were places where there were no roads at all,” said Leyba, a graduate student in urban and environmental planning in ASUs School of Sustainability.
Students can locate alternate routes so charitable groups can reach those in need. The technology can also identify the locations of large public spaces such as stadiums, where temporary shelters can be set up.
The earthquake was one of the biggest disasters that the ASU team has worked on, but the YouthMappers have also responded to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and have helped identify areas without electricity in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
The global community of YouthMappers has also helped Arizona with the ongoing issue of heat — particularly as it relates to vulnerable people living in mobile and manufactured homes.
“We work on everything from mobile homes to earthquakes,” said Abdulrahman Alsanad, a recent ASU graduate and geographic information system analyst with Knowledge Exchange for Resilience, who works with the mappers.
“It is our responsibility to help people in need,” said Negar Rahmatollahi, a doctoral student who is studying landscape, architecture and environment.
“Digitizing maps helps us gather important information about how buildings need to be improved,” she said.
She hopes that with better designs and planning, areas can be made more resilient for the future.
“Design policies and guidelines for houses are so important, and solutions need to be available to protect people from future natural disasters.”
Top photo: ASUs Knowledge Exchange for Resilience staffer Abdulrahman Alsanad places colored polygons over existing and destroyed structures in Syria and Turkey at a weekly YouthMappers ASU session on Friday, March 3, at the Walton Center for Planetary Health on the Tempe campus. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
Maps are invaluable tools for understanding the geography and spatial relationships between places. Looking at a map of Turkey and Syria side by side provides insight into how these two neighbors in the Middle East compare in terms of size, borders, major cities and geographical features.
In this article, we’ll use map resources to take a high-level tour of Turkey and Syria’s geography and highlight some of the key elements that stand out when visualizing these countries cartographically.
Getting Oriented with Where Turkey and Syria Are Located
Turkey and Syria occupy strategic locations where Europe and Asia meet in the Middle East Turkey straddles the Bosphorus strait and Sea of Marmara, with its territory spanning across Eastern Thrace in southeastern Europe and the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia Syria is situated on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, fully within Western Asia.
Turkey shares land borders with eight countries, including Syria to its south Syria borders Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon By looking at a map, you can see how Turkey and Syria’s positions have made them central powers and melting pots cultures and empires throughout history.
Comparing the Size of Turkey and Syria
Turkey is much larger than Syria in total land area. Turkey covers 302,535 square miles compared to Syria’s 71,500 square miles. To put this in perspective, Turkey is over four times larger than Syria—it’s a massive country!
Turkey ranks 36th in the world by total area, while Syria ranks 88th. The size contrast is very noticeable on a Middle East map that has both countries shown at an equal scale. You really get a sense for just how small Syria is compared to its Anatolian neighbor to the north.
Topography: Mountain Ranges, Plateaus and More
The topography of Turkey and Syria also shows some noteworthy differences when observed on a physical map.
Much of Turkey’s interior consists of rugged, mountainous highlands, such as the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea coast and the Taurus Mountains running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. The Anatolian Plateau sits in between these mountain chains, with an average elevation around 3,000 feet. Turkey’s highest peak is Mt. Ararat at 16,854 feet tall.
Syria’s terrain starts off mountainous near the Mediterranean coastline, with ranges like Lebanon’s Anti-Lebanon Mountains carrying over into the country’s western areas. The rest of Syria consists mainly of broad plains and plateaus, including the Syrian Desert and Euphrates River valley. Syria’s high point is Mt. Hermon at 9,232 feet.
Following Rivers and Lakes
Several major rivers originate in Turkey and flow southwards into Syria and surrounding countries. The lengthy Euphrates River starts in eastern Turkey then passes through Syria and Iraq. Turkey is also the source of the Tigris River, which then runs through Syria for over 100 miles.
The Orontes River, another important waterway in the region, arises in southwestern Turkey before flowing into Syria and turning west to reach the Mediterranean. Lakes are scarcer than rivers, but a few stand out in each country. Turkey has massive Lake Van in eastern Anatolia, while Syria’s largest lake is the manmade Al-Assad Reservoir.
Pinpointing Major Cities and Population Centers
Both Turkey and Syria are home to ancient cities that have served as capitals and cultural hubs for countless civilizations. Learning where these cities are located geographically tells a deeper story of how urban growth patterns evolved in the region over millennia.
Turkey’s biggest city by far is bustling, cosmopolitan Istanbul, situated on the Bosphorus straits linking Europe and Asia. Other major Turkish cities include the capital Ankara deep inland on the Anatolian Plateau, Izmir on the Aegean coast, Bursa between the Marmara and Black Seas, and Adana in the south-central region.
In Syria, the national capital Damascus and second city Aleppo have long stood out as main population and commercial centers in the western part of the country. The city of Homs is another key urban area near Damascus and the Mediterranean coastline.
Looking at the distribution of cities, it’s apparent that western Turkey and Syria have historically had the conditions most suited for large metro areas to develop and flourish.
Tracing Out Regional Borders
Turkey and Syria’s precise international borders and surrounding countries can be seen clearly on any good political map.
Turkey has an exceptionally long land frontier running for about 2,875 miles in total. Eight nations border Turkey, some along lengthy shared boundaries: Syria (577 miles long), Iraq (239 miles), Iran (432 miles), Armenia (268 miles), Azerbaijan (9 miles), Georgia (149 miles), Bulgaria (137 miles), and Greece (133 miles). The Aegean Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea form Turkey’s coastal borders.
Syria’s land borders tally up to about 1,036 miles in total length. The border with Turkey is the longest, followed by Iraq (440 miles), Jordan (236 miles), Israel (56 miles) and Lebanon (253 miles). The Mediterranean defines Syria’s western maritime boundary.
Observing where these lines are precisely drawn on a map provides insight into regional history and geopolitics over time.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking at a reference map for a school report or casually browsing Google Maps, viewing Turkey and Syria cartographically alongside one another illuminates their close ties and strategic geography. Comparing their landscapes regionally also sets the stage for understanding their modern relationships and current events.
So next time you set out to map countries in the Middle East, be sure to pay close attention to the diverse geography represented across Turkey and Syria. Keep an eye out for those stunning mountains, far-reaching rivers, bustling metropolises and vast desert frontiers that give this part of the world such a rich, layered physical and human geography.
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