MapGive: Drawing Our Resources Together

MapGive is making it easier for new online volunteers to get involved with crowdsourced mapping. The website has resources for how to map, explains why it's important, and shows how people can get involved. MapGive is from the U.S. State Department's Humanitarian Information Unit. More at: mapgive.state.gov

MAPGIVE: DRAWING OUR RESOURCES TOGETHER

Narrator: In 2010, after an earthquake

in Haiti, online volunteers became part

of a movement that is creating a free and

open digital map of the world.

Mikel Maron: In an emergency, you just

need data from wherever you have it.

Justine MacKinnon: “It's important that

the information is open and available to

everyone, because some situations we

don't know it's going to happen

it's a surprise.”

Narrator: “What is Remote Mapping?"

Shadrock Roberts: “Remote mapping is

sort of an interesting new phenomena

that's happened probably since about 2010.

In Haiti, we saw a real push of

volunteers on-line to help create map data

where none existed before.”

Narrator: “Map data helps humanitarian

efforts; not just in a crisis.

It helps communities like Kibera in

Nairobi, Kenya prepare, develop, and

respond to needs at the local level.

It's a big job and not every place

is mapped like we may believe.

Kepha Ngito: “Developing or establishing

data is a very huge step in kicking off

the process of changing things,

and that is the point

at which the maps become very useful.”

Dale Kunce: “When the typhoon happened we

realized there were no good maps of the

Philippines. That there needed to be maps

so that our personnel would know where to

go and what they would find when they

got there. So we partnered with the

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team to help

them and help us build out a base

map of the Philippines.

Narrator: “Think of OpenStreetMap

as Wikipedia for maps.”

Mikel Maron: “OpenStreetMap is a

free and open map of the entire world.

It's primarily edited by volunteers.

We create everything in the commons it's

completely open and available for

anyone to contribute and anyone to use.”

Narrator: “How do volunteers help?”

Shadrock Roberts: “The way that a

volunteer can help is by looking at

satellite imagery and picking out

different predefined objects and saying OK

I can see a house, I can trace the edges

of that house.

I see a road I can trace the line of that

road, I see an edge of a forest

I can trace the edge of that forest.”

Narrator: “MapGive is making it easier for

new online volunteers to take those

first steps in helping build an open,

free map of the world

and become digital humanitarians.”

Narrator: “Learn how to map in three

steps. Get an OpenStreetMap account.

Practice mapping. Then, get connected

with a task on the MapGive site.

You'll get the skills to map...what you'll

give helps communities around the world.”

Joshua Campbell: “The value of the

geographic data created in OpenStreetMap

for humanitarian response has already been

compelling. The amount of information that

has been produced and the utility it has

rendered to the humanitarian community is

a game—changer in humanitarian response.”

Dale Kunce: “For the typhoon response

we've had almost 16 hundred volunteers do

something like 4.5 million edits to the

base map just for the Philippines. And

those 16 hundred volunteers represent

some 3 to 4 years of dedicated mapping

that one person would be able to do.

Narrator: “We're asking the question:

what if there were more online MapGivers?”

Joshua Campbell: “What could happen if we

had 10 times the amount of volunteers?

50 times the amount of volunteers?

How many areas could we map? How

much good could we do in this process?”

Narrator: “Let's find out how much good

we can do. MapGive today.”