OpenStreetMap
Not at all my work, but a place to record the work of Akash Wadhwani. They have just written a great piece on OpenStreetMap and the work of volunteers to map in support of disaster response.
I recommend you all read it, it’s a great advert for you.
My diary entries are all my own thoughts and do not represent OpenStreetMap, The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) or any organisation using the HOT systems. Any errors are all my own work.
Back in January 2025 I found myself mapping a HOT project in Kulob, Tajikstan. I had wanted to find a project to gain some experience of mapping water features and this project fit the bill. In support of a local tuberculosis screening programme, Médecins Sans Frontières required the update or addition of roadways, waterways and residential areas. No buildings. This was not a high priority project, so did not get much interest from the general HOT community. Only 11 mappers, with 3 completing tasks. Local mappers would be updating feature and area names. I mapped about 85% of the project, so I have a little stakeholder interest in the data use.
Around the same time I had started attending the Missing Maps London on-line mapathons early in month and mid-month events. As well as getting mapping advice, this put me in touch with the wider HOT mapping community. It turned out that Jorieke, the Kulob project manager, is a regular of the Missing Maps sessions. Along with several of my HOT on-line mapping colleagues, we met at SOTM Europe in Dundee .
Today Jorieke sent me a link to a podcast interview with one of the MSF doctors using the OSM data in Kulob. We rarely get to know about how our mapping supports end users, you can hear it here and discover other mapping related podcasts.
My diary entries are all my own thoughts and do not represent OpenStreetMap, The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) or any organisation using the HOT systems. Any errors are all my own work.
This first diary entry is based on my response to a mapper on the HOT Slack Channel asking about validation methods.
When it comes to HOT mapping and validation, I’d say there are not really any standards, or training to judge mapping against those standards. It’s a constant frustration of mine. However, the use of the data should be considered when validating tasks. If a road in Africa is a few meters out from a vehicle GPS while driving, does it really matter? The driver is going to follow the track. Relative positions are more important - do things match what might be seen in the field?
Skipping a task that you don’t feel experienced enough to validate seems a mature approach to me. I also try to map a few tasks in a project before validating tasks to get some understanding of the problems mappers may face.
I’ve only been seriously HOT mapping with some validation since early 2024, although I’ve mapped in a small way since April 2019, including my own locality. I’ve developed the thought that there are three basic types of validators;