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collaborative maps are uniquely valuable to humanitarian work, especially in places where base map data is scarce, out of date, or rapidly changing.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. Th event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration and additional information can be found here