Missing Maps

Missing Maps is a humanitarian project that preemptively maps parts of the world that are vulnerable to natural disasters, conflicts, and disease epidemics. It was founded in November 2014 by the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders and has so far mapped large towns and cities in countries such as South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic.

The idea to create the Missing Maps project was born out of a realisation by the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, and Médecins Sans Frontières that maps are pivotal to delivering humanitarian aid. In civil wars, for example, maps can help individuals and organisations track the movement of internally displaced populations and determine where best to conduct food and non-food item distributions. Or in the case of disease outbreaks, emergency responders can use maps to identify the source of the outbreak and identify the most effective infection control methods.Baraka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the end of 2014 became one of the pilot projects.

The project is aimed at preemptively mapping vulnerable parts of the world to create highly detailed maps that will be ready for first-responders to use in the event of a disaster, conflict, or disease epidemic. It relies on a large volunteer community to map these areas through online, remote mapping in the initial phases. Once these digital maps are validated by expert mappers, they are then sent to field teams to be updated and revised.

The mapping process is largely driven by demands in the field. Humanitarian organisations identify areas of vulnerability that are then set as tasks on the HOT tasking manager for remote mapping. Once an area has been mapped and validated, the maps are sent to field staff who work with local people to travel to the mapped areas and input names of streets and key buildings and check for errors. After this step, the maps are deemed ready for use and made available online for free.

As the mapping is done preemptively, the first step largely involves field staff from MSF, the British Red Cross, and the American Red Cross engaging in dialogue together to identify key areas of vulnerability. They understand the challenges of implementing field projects and are often engaged in delivering frontline humanitarian assistance. Sometimes these challenges are about understanding the locations of malnourished children or the direction that a disease is spreading. When head offices are notified of such challenges, the Missing Maps project activates an online task for remote mapping.

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Wikipedia