15 Putting 200 Million People “on the Map”: Evolving Methods …
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called Missing Maps, which aims to put 200 million vulnerable people on the map by
2021—adding the communities in which they live to OSM, where the data are openly
available for use and revision. This represents a targeted effort to conduct widespread
pre-disaster mapping without limiting the focus to a particular geography.
This paper (1) describes the Missing Maps project’s remote and field mapping
methods, (2) outlines the technical tools developed for the project, (3) highlights
how humanitarian and development organizations can adapt these tools and methods to other initiatives, and (4) explores current challenges and research questions
surrounding mapping initiatives focused on the Global South. In doing so, this paper
provides an overview of current trends in crowdsourced mapping and emerging data
collection methods, with the aim to share tools and experiences with others in the
humanitarian community.
15.2 Remote and Field Mapping Methods
As of November 2017, three years after the project’s launch, Missing Maps volunteers
collectively mapped an estimated 60 million people. The majority of this progress
involved remote mapping efforts. The American Red Cross and its partners host and
support mapping parties (“mapathons”) in cities around the world, often working
with university groups or even private corporations who are interested in bringing
people together and training them how to trace buildings and roads from satellite
imagery in order to map a vulnerable area.
This engagement strategy is modeled after mapping parties and “crisis camps”
held by HOT, Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL), the World Bank, and other organizations (see Soden and Palen 2014). Missing Maps is unique, however, in its unprecedented number of events and its geographic reach. Figure 15.1 shows the locations
and density of Missing Maps mapathons as well as the location of every building
mapped by Missing Maps volunteers from the project’s launch in November 2014
until the time this article was written, in November 2017. Partners have hosted a
total of 623 public mapathons across all six continents, resulting in nearly 40,000
attendees mapping over 15 million buildings and 13 million kilometers of roads in
OSM. Outside of mapping parties, volunteers also remotely contribute to mapping
tasks. Missing Maps continues to build momentum, with 17 organizations now part
of the partnership.
Remote tracing efforts very quickly result in basemap data for the area of interest.
Over a matter of days, a community can go from a blank spot on the map to a detailed
collection of buildings and roads. This gives humanitarian agencies necessary data to
plan and organize their community development and disaster preparedness/response
activities.
Remote mapping rapidly produces data but faces certain limits. Building and road
outlines provide a baseline of physical infrastructure information for humanitarians,
but additional information is necessary to make the map more complete and useful.
It is impossible to tell from satellite imagery where hospitals, schools, water and
179
called Missing Maps, which aims to put 200 million vulnerable people on the map by
2021—adding the communities in which they live to OSM, where the data are openly
available for use and revision. This represents a targeted effort to conduct widespread
pre-disaster mapping without limiting the focus to a particular geography.
This paper (1) describes the Missing Maps project’s remote and field mapping
methods, (2) outlines the technical tools developed for the project, (3) highlights
how humanitarian and development organizations can adapt these tools and methods to other initiatives, and (4) explores current challenges and research questions
surrounding mapping initiatives focused on the Global South. In doing so, this paper
provides an overview of current trends in crowdsourced mapping and emerging data
collection methods, with the aim to share tools and experiences with others in the
humanitarian community.
15.2 Remote and Field Mapping Methods
As of November 2017, three years after the project’s launch, Missing Maps volunteers
collectively mapped an estimated 60 million people. The majority of this progress
involved remote mapping efforts. The American Red Cross and its partners host and
support mapping parties (“mapathons”) in cities around the world, often working
with university groups or even private corporations who are interested in bringing
people together and training them how to trace buildings and roads from satellite
imagery in order to map a vulnerable area.
This engagement strategy is modeled after mapping parties and “crisis camps”
held by HOT, Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL), the World Bank, and other organizations (see Soden and Palen 2014). Missing Maps is unique, however, in its unprecedented number of events and its geographic reach. Figure 15.1 shows the locations
and density of Missing Maps mapathons as well as the location of every building
mapped by Missing Maps volunteers from the project’s launch in November 2014
until the time this article was written, in November 2017. Partners have hosted a
total of 623 public mapathons across all six continents, resulting in nearly 40,000
attendees mapping over 15 million buildings and 13 million kilometers of roads in
OSM. Outside of mapping parties, volunteers also remotely contribute to mapping
tasks. Missing Maps continues to build momentum, with 17 organizations now part
of the partnership.
Remote tracing efforts very quickly result in basemap data for the area of interest.
Over a matter of days, a community can go from a blank spot on the map to a detailed
collection of buildings and roads. This gives humanitarian agencies necessary data to
plan and organize their community development and disaster preparedness/response
activities.
Remote mapping rapidly produces data but faces certain limits. Building and road
outlines provide a baseline of physical infrastructure information for humanitarians,
but additional information is necessary to make the map more complete and useful.
It is impossible to tell from satellite imagery where hospitals, schools, water and