[...] - Pervasive geographic coverage: broadly speaking citizens have a more pervasive coverage of the territory than government, at least in populated areas. It is far more effective to let citizens casually signal a problem in a street than to have civil servants travelling up and down the city. This is particularly relevant in disaster situation where only citizens have the information at the right time, such as in the case of crisis where citizens on the ground can share valuable information, if properly managed (as in the services enabled by Ushahidi.org);