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Timeframe: Ongoing during COVID-19 response

Location: Remote

Projected start date: Ongoing

Volunteers, we need your help! COVID-19 is now a serious global pandemic disrupting daily life as we all know it. To make matters worse, 1 billion people are living in places that are partially or completely unmapped. This means they may be left out of life-saving measures, access to healthcare and other forms of support. Health workers and humanitarian responders need reliable maps in order to carry out testing, treatment and contact tracing. Volunteer and help put vulnerable communities on the map.

What do we need?

Given the rapid spread of the crisis, it is crucial to get OpenStreetMap data into the hands of government agencies/health authorities and other actors requesting it for the response. Maps are required in order to identify where vulnerable populations are and provide this information to government teams, and to provide them a way to track and visualize their progress. Missing data on health infrastructure such as facilities, testing sites, pharmacies, laboratories, etc. is needed, as well as roads, ports and resource distribution centers, such as markets and food centers, to understand how resources are allocated.

This is where HOT volunteers come in. You can help update these maps and get crucial data into the hands of frontline responders and decision makers. Find out what you can do to help below.

How can you help?

  • **Host a mapathon: **Organize some friends or colleagues to host a mapathon to support people affected by COVID-19. Find all the information on how to set up your mapathon here.

  • Map: You can learn to map very easily online and start contributing on the HOT Tasking Manager.

  • Validate: If you’re an experienced mapper, help us verify data quality by validating!

  • Spread the word: Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and share our messages to encourage more mappers!

  • **Ask us questions: **We’re available to support you with any questions on these activities, please join us on the HOT Slack Channel and head to #mapper-support for assistance.

Here are some of the mapping attributes that are increasingly important in the current environment:

We highly encourage mapping some of the above features in an area you care about. There are also some existing tasks that you can help complete.

Virtual Mapathons to look for

A big thank you to the mapping community! From everyone at HOT, we wish the best possible outcome for anyone affected by COVID-19.