Map Unmapped Regions For Disaster Relief
Bring laptops to pizza night and trace satellite images of unmapped places - the maps relief teams will use in the next crisis.
- Cost
- Under £20pp
- Time
- 90-120 min
- People
- Solo / Duo, Small Group (3-6), Large Group (7+)
- Where
- Home
- Bring
- A laptop each and a free Missing Maps account
Why this matters
Large parts of the world are still poorly mapped, which slows down disaster response when it matters most - responders can't route around a flooded road that isn't on any map. Tracing buildings and roads from satellite images directly improves the open data that relief teams rely on. It's genuinely useful work that requires no training and no travel.
How to do it
Order pizza and get everyone set up with a free account on Missing Maps, which feeds into OpenStreetMap. Then pick a current mapping task and start tracing.
The task itself gives you all the instructions you need - usually something like "trace every building in this square" or "map the roads in this area". There's a short tutorial first. Nobody needs prior experience.
Practical notes: - A laptop is much easier than a tablet or phone for this. A mouse helps a lot. - Accuracy matters more than speed. Badly traced data creates work for someone else to fix. Take the tutorial seriously. - If you're unsure whether something is a building, leave it. It's fine to skip. - Work through squares one at a time and compare notes as you go - it's more sociable than it sounds.
It works well as a rainy-afternoon thing, and it's one of the few genuinely useful activities you can do from a sofa with friends. Some groups make it a recurring thing and track how many buildings they've collectively mapped.