Can we call it a "world map" if it's missing a billion people?
1,738,813 views | Rebecca Firth • TED2020
Want to help map the world? Community builder Rebecca Firth explains how the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) is using open-source software powered by volunteers to put one billion people on the map in the next five years. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
Want to help map the world? Community builder Rebecca Firth explains how the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) is using open-source software powered by volunteers to put one billion people on the map in the next five years. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
Join the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to build a future where everyone, everywhere, is represented on the map.
About the speaker
Rebecca Firth works closely with local and international partners to support mapping in communities across the world.
Sarah Scoles | Wired Magazine, 2020 | Article
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Makoko being a blank spot on the map is both literal and symbolic for a few reasons. Being an eternally-neglected community — a settlement the state officials would be happy and willing to wipe off — its welfare is never a priority. In fact, an official in the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy said there was no literature on the community in the state archive.
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With thousands of people missing and homes and roads underwater after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas, responders needed to know where to look. They also needed to quickly assess the damage across multiple islands and determine the best places to set up distribution points for food, water and other basic needs, but maps were incomplete.
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Rebecca Firth | Environmental Scientist, pp. 10-13, 2017 | Article
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The Classy Award recognizes social enterprises that are tackling some of the world's most complex problems. HOT was one of the 2017 winners of the award for its efforts to create free, high-quality, up-to-date digital maps for development and humanitarian action.
Catherine Cheney | Devex, 2016 | Article
"What's needed to put more people on the map?"
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, an unprecedented number of volunteers headed to OpenStreetMap, a Wikipedia for maps, to add new data. The impact of the effort now extends beyond crisis response with humanitarian organizations relying on crowdsourced maps to respond to a wide range of needs at the local level. The movement includes remote mappers who work from behind their computer screens as well as field workers who teach others how to put themselves on the map for the first time.
Chris Michael | The Guardian, 2014 | Article
"Missing Maps: nothing less than a human genome project for cities"
This article introduces the Missing Maps project, a collaboration by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, MSF, the American and British Red Cross and others to create free, digital maps for every single settlement on earth.
Learn more
This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
Join the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to build a future where everyone, everywhere, is represented on the map.