My diary entries all all my own thoughts and do not represent OpenStreetMap, The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) or any organisation using the HOT systems. Any errors are all my own work.

This first diary entry is based on my response to a mapper on the HOT Slack Channel asking about validation methods.

When it comes to HOT mapping and validation, I’d say there are not really any standards, or training to judge mapping against those standards. It’s a constant frustration of mine. However, the use of the data should be considered when validating tasks. If a road in Africa is a few meters out from a vehicle GPS while driving, does it really matter? The driver is going to follow the track. Relative positions are more important - do things match what might be seen in the field?

Skipping a task that you don’t feel experienced enough to validate seems a mature approach to me. I also try to map a few tasks in a project before validating tasks to get some understanding of the problems mappers may face.

I’ve only been seriously HOT mapping with some validation since early 2024, although I’ve mapped in a small way since April 2019, including my own locality. I’ve developed the thought that there are three basic types of validators;

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