The work of disastermappers heidelberg is determined by trying to find simple, actionable and convenient solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of crowdmapping. Recent research which is carried out by some of the co-founders of the initiative clearly shows that what is needed sometimes to improve mapping results by remote mapping volunteers is not the next fancy tech-heavy tool but rather a simple solution. The simple but evident idea to provide mapping volunteers with background information about the region to be mapped is adopted already by the Humanitarian OpeStreetMap Team in the response to the Gorkha Earthquake which struck Nepal a few weeks back, see here.
With our next solution, we contribute to the mapping efforts of the Missing Maps initiative and hope to show the beauty of mashups which combine OSM crowdmapping and crowdbased microtasking. To discuss this new idea and the further collaboration, members of the Missing Maps project, Doctors without Borders, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team and the British Red Cross paid a visit to the disastermappers heidelberg beginning of this week.
The day started with a lecture about Crowdsourced Information for Disaster Risk Management that was held by Melanie and Benjamin in the scope of the geoinformatics lecture. Their presentation was complemented by the Missing Maps project which used this chance to introduce the scope and motivation of the project to the students and to also provide information about possible research and students` involvement.
The afternoon was then used for a workshop of the Missing Maps team with the disastermappers to further develop the workflow for the planned collaboration.
A great day and a great start to a very promising collaboration!
In this context we invite all mappers, students, docents and researchers interested in supported the initiative or just interested in finding out more about our project to join us in a
Missing Maps Mapping Event, Monday 8.6.2015, 5 pm, Berliner Str. 48 (Hörsaal).
The objective of this event is to contribute data of the province South Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo) to enable and support humanitarian aid in the conflict region and support the work of the Doctors without Borders.
As usual we will provide drinks and snacks and also heartly welcome new mappers to join 🙂
If possible please bring your own laptops.
Looking forward to seeing you on monday,
disastermappers heidelberg
disastermappers heidelberg 