Crowdsourcing for Disaster and Humanitarian Response

Free, collaborative maps are uniquely valuable to humanitarian work, especially in places where base map data is scarce, out of date, or rapidly changing. OpenStreetMap is a web-based project to create a free and open map of the entire world, built entirely by volunteers surveying with GPS, digitizing aerial imagery, and collecting, and making accessible existing public sources of geographic data. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) serves as a bridge between the OpenStreetMap community and the traditional humanitarian responders. Over the past year, HOT has both worked on the ground in Haiti and Indonesia and supported disaster response remotely.

Please join the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Science & Technology Innovation Program at 9 am on May 3 for an event focused on this organization and its work. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. 

This presentation will cover:

· What HOT does

· How OpenStreetMap compliments more traditional data sources utilized by responders

· How one can get involved in responses with HOT

· How free and open data allows for more effective disaster and humanitarian response

· HOT’s role in community mapping for disaster preparedness

Moderators:

· Kate Chapman – Treasurer, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

· Nicolas Chavent – Secretary, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

Panelists: Board of Directors of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

· Mikel Maron  – HOT President and co-Director, Ground Truth Initiative

· Schuyler Erle – HOT At Large Member and Partner, Entropy Free, LCC

· Harry Wood – HOT At Large Member and Senior Software Engineer, Placr

· John Crowley – HOT Vice President, and Research Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and  STAR-TIDES

· Dane Springmeyer –HOT Technical Director and Geographer, Development Seed

Please submit questions for the Humanitarian Open Street Map Team panel discussion at the Wilson Center on May 3rd using the following Hackpad link:
https://hackpad.com/TcQSA2AOqpN#Questions-for-Crowdsourcing-for-Disaster-and-Humanitarian-Response

The power point presentation from this event can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/wonderchook/crowdsourcing-for-disaster-response-through-openstreetmap

Follow the event on Twitter using hashtag #WCScience