Honduras for many years struggles with variety of criminal activities, including those related to
drug trafficking and trade. Due to generalized violence and organized criminal gangs, around
41 000 households (174 000 persons) were internally displaced within 20 of the most affected
municipalities, however, network of gangs extend throughout the country so the actual number
could be higher.
The report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons on
his mission to Honduras reveals challenges that persist with regard to data and research in
order to gain a full picture of displacement dynamics, trends and patterns.
Thus, the objective of this thesis is implementation of GIS-based tool that will enable local
authorities and humanitarian organizations to record cases where homes or property were
abandoned. Facilitating stakeholders with a tool that is capable of instant data collection,
aggregation, yet effortless visualization and analysis is intended to improve coherent respond
to humanitarian crisis in Honduras.
At present, data is collected through the network of churches that cooperate with the
government and international relief actors, in the form of non-georeferenced addresses or
even paper based maps, thus introducing modern GIS system will systematize and improve
data collection process and enable rapid analysis in order to implement evidence based
approach in circumstances where lack of vital cadastral registry makes ownership registration
as well as property tenure verification Impossible.
Due to high risk, data collection does not imply deploying staff to the location to conduct
cadastral surveying therefore introducing GIS system will enable necessary data acquisition
remotely. Prior to system implementation phase, different data collection approaches in opensource
geospatial technology will be compared in order to roll out the most suitable solution.