Can we call it a "world map" if it's missing a billion people?

How HOT set up mapping projects and mobilized volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic using technology and satellite imagery to assist the government, aid workers and those affected by the pandemic, using the example of a project in Peru.

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.

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.

With USAID support, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) helped create the first up-to-date digital maps of the Serengeti for a Crowd2Map project that creates maps to help locate and protect girls at risk of female genital mutilation in Tanzania. The project also trains community volunteers, including girls at the safe house, to use mobile phones to input data points — schools, hospitals, churches and street names — to the free, crowdsourced OpenStreetMap.

The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) enables volunteers from around the world to map in OpenStreetMap (OSM) in support of specific development programs and to build the resilience of places affected by natural disasters. Mapping directly supports projects to both measure and meet the majority of the 17 SDGs; data can inform the entire project lifecycle, from the initiation and identification of priorities, to monitoring progress and finally measuring impact and reporting.

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.

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.

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.