Posted by Benson Wilder and Mikel Maron
As events around the world mark Open Data Day, the Department of State is proud to celebrate the anniversary of one its own open data initiatives. The Department launched MapGive one year ago to link digital diplomacy with collaborative mapping, and to maximize the U.S. Government’s contributions toOpenStreetMap (OSM), a free and editable map of the world.
As a flagship initiative of the Department’s Open Government Plan, MapGive -- managed by the Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) -- serves as a nexus of expertise in OSM for the Department’s domestic bureaus and diplomatic posts, other U.S. Government agencies, and other governments through international fora, such as the Open Government Partnership. We are especially proud to work with other institutions that focus on open mapping, including USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives, and USAID's Global Development Lab; the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery; and the Peace Corps.
These collaborations have paid dividends, most notably in crisis response and preparedness. As Typhoon Haiyan charted its devastating path across the Philippines in November 2013, digital volunteers supported humanitarian agencies. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) activated 24 hours before landfall, and was already creating invaluable base map data for responders in previously unmapped places like Tacloban. In the following weeks, over 1,600 volunteers created nearly five million changes and additions to OpenStreetMap (OSM), with support from many institutions, including the sharing of crucial pre- and post-event satellite imagery by the Department's HIU.
With added information flowing regularly from the volunteer mapping community, OSM Philippines organized year-round local preparedness and community building activities, developed a rapid response team to gather imagery for emergencies, and planned mapping for development projects with the World Bank in places like Bohol Island. One year later, Typhoon Hagupit threatened the Philippines. Fortunately, Hagupit was a much less intense storm, and the Philippines was much more prepared. That preparedness included the mapping response, where HOT, with support from MapGive, leveraged satellite imagery services to build the map before the storm made landfall. Yet even now, many areas of the Philippines remain unmapped, putting humanitarian and development projects at a disadvantage. There is more to do, and more partners to bring to the table.
MapGive contributes in several ways. The central pillar is its Imagery to the Crowd (IttC) methodology, in which high-resolution commercial satellite imagery services are published in a format that public volunteers can easily map into OSM. Dozens of imagery services have been established for creating and sharing digital map data for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and elsewhere. Building on IttC, the MapGive website provides a clear introduction to the purpose and techniques of OSM. This public domain tool for engagement has already been utilized for reaching new non-English speaking audiences. MapGive draws together mappers offline and online, spotlighting campaigns through State Department social media and providing easy-to-use analysis and visualization tools. These campaigns are also supported by launching “mapathons” that bring together university students, NGO workers, mapping enthusiasts, and other volunteers – from the novice to the expert. The State Department recently partnered with USAID’s GeoCenter at the Global Development Lab and George Washington University to help map Bangladesh, with American Red Cross and Missing Maps to support the Ebola response, and with the National Geographic Society on a series of events during National Geography Awareness Week.
Soon after the MapGive launch, the largest and most complex mapping activation to date began in response to the Ebola outbreak. In March, HOT began utilizing web-based imagery services to map areas in Guinea that had never before been mapped in any detail, providing logistical support to responders deployed to the region. In the second phase, MapGive provided huge swaths of imagery services for Liberia and Sierra Leone, and hosted two mapathons with the American Red Cross that mobilized hundreds of volunteers. To date, over 3,000 volunteers have made over 14 million changes and additions to OSM map data in the Ebola-affected region; this represents a new standard in term of the staggering amount of geographic data created. Those volunteers came from all corners of the globe, including Ramallah, where Palestinian students participated in a mapping event sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem.
The Department is proud of what MapGive has accomplished in its first year. In the coming year, MapGive will continue to develop its potential as a tool of diplomacy, building excitement about Open Street Map at the local level where people are most familiar with their own communities. Working with our bureaus and posts, the Department of State has already found new opportunities to strengthen its public diplomacy efforts through collaborative mapping such as next month’s Young African Leader Initiative ConnectCamps project that will engage Mandela Washington Fellowship alumni across East Africa. Please visit mapgive.state.gov to join the cause, and follow @MapGive on Twitter to keep up with the latest projects and to help spread the word about future opportunities. About the Authors: Benson Wilder serves as a Geographer and Human Security Analyst in the Department of State's Humanitarian Information Unit, and Mikel Maron serves as a Presidential Innovation Fellow at the Department of State.
For more information:
Video Presentation: Mapping from the Sky, Building Communities on the Ground
Video Presentation: Imagery to the Crowd
USAID ImpactBlog: Open Cities and Crisis Mapping