“Invisible” No More: Communities Can Update Maps Themselves, Thanks to Open Source App

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, open-source tools like OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributed to pinpoint more than 1,100 handwashing stations across Indonesia, and reach vulnerable populations to effectively help them.

“Incomplete or inaccurate maps can cut off entire communities from essential services and government assistance,” says Harry Machmud, who’s the head of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team in Indonesia. “OSM lets the community update the map whenever they want to. It is based on their knowledge and their priorities, and they don’t have to wait for government permission or for anyone else to do it.”

In large parts of the world, maps are not accurate and more than one billion people remain “invisible”. Over time, OSM has helped rescue efforts in Haiti, vaccination in rural Nigeria, to plot routes and camps of refugees fleeing South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela.