Accurate maps play a critical role in understanding communities, particularly for populations at risk. Much, but not all, of the United States has been mapped with incredible detail. This is not the reality for billions of people in vulnerable areas, however. These individuals are often less visible to decision-makers because their communities do not exist on any maps. During disasters or epidemics, unmapped communities may receive less assistance because first responders have less information about them. Missing Maps is an open, collaborative project in which volunteers help to put communities on the map, creating better information for areas where humanitarian organizations are working to meet the needs of vulnerable people. The project involved a three-step process that focuses on open data, open source tools, and community engagement:

Digital volunteers use satellite Community volunteers learn about Humanitarian organizations use imagery to trace buildings and the map and add local detail such mapped information to plan risk roads, adding this base data into as schools, health facilities, street reduction and disaster response OpenStreetMap, a free and names, and evacuation centers. activities to save lives. Better data editable map of the world. enables more efficient interventions.

The project began in 2014 as a collaboration amongst the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières-UK (MSF), and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). Since then, Missing Maps has held over 3,000 mapathons in 70 countries – training roughly 76,000 volunteers and putting over 65 million people on the map. The collective now includes 16 global NGOs including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Canadian Red Cross, and Netherlands Red Cross.

Thanks to volunteers like you, Missing Maps continues to gain momentum and aims to map 200 million people by 2021.

MissingMaps.org @TheMissingMaps MissingMapsProject