Océ has pledged aid to MapAction, an international charity for disaster zones that has Prince Harry as one of its patrons.  Agreement has been reached whereby an amount from each Océ ColorWave 600 printer sale to map organisations in the UK goes towards humanitarian life-saving rescue work in disaster-struck countries throughout the world.

The Océ ColorWave 600 is part of a family of wide-format production systems, which uses unique Océ CrystalPoint technology.  It is hoped that around ￡20,000 will be generated for MapAction by Océ within the first 12 months.

Prince Harry, the Royal Patron of the charity where volunteers of specially trained geographical information systems (GIS) professionals provide crisis support across the world at any time day or night, said, “MapAction harnesses technology to a powerful volunteer ethos. They are a real asset to the humanitarian cause.”

Before aid agencies can help in a crisis, they first require information, such as identifying the people in greatest need, what relief resources are needed and where it is needed. MapAction delivers data in mapped form, from information gathered at the disaster scene. By creating a ‘shared operational picture’, its service is crucial in coordinating response and delivering aid to the right place, quickly.

Details of Océ’s charity link-up with MapAction have been revealed following GeoCommunity 2011 where there were live print demonstrations on Océ’s ColorWave 600 system.

Roger Wedge, the Communications Director of MapAction, the charity that started with a first emergency response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has since been to 30 different humanitarian crises, said, “Mapping support during the early phases of a response is critical, as aid agencies and donors quickly try to understand the situation on the ground.

“We have been involved with many disasters over the world, more recently Haiti, Japan and Libya, where we took with us maps printed on the Océ ColorWave 600. In these emergencies we have supported thousands of different national and international aid teams bringing help to millions of people whose welfare and very existence have been threatened by devastating events.

“Clearly we can’t bring a printer with us, so it’s vital to be able to produce fantastic quality, detailed maps that could mean the difference between life and death situations. We are very grateful to Océ to agreeing to contribute to our fundraising in that they will give us an amount from each sale of an Océ ColorWave 600 to map organisations. The support from Océ is clearly a very important part of fundraising for us.”

Duncan Smith, Director of Océ UK’s Wide Format Printing, said: “As an international leader in digital document product systems and management, it’s reassuring that our award-winning Océ ColorWave 600 is helping out in a practical way in crisis-hit areas and we are delighted that sales to mapping organisations are helping to contribute cash aid.”

He added: “Océ and MapAction both exhibited at AGI GeoCommunity Conference 2011 – the largest independent UK GIS conference of the year – and visitors were amazed to witness live printing of maps within 60 seconds when they said their own systems normally take at least 20 minutes!”

Esri’s Peter Jolly, President of the British Cartographic Society, said at the conference: “Océ is one of the companies that provide a very fine product for the printed map.”