Yesterday’s Missing Maps party in London looked like it was going to be completely chaotic. Both Astrid (who organises the mapping parties) and I had been on holiday til the day before and the new MSF office (which we only moved into a little while ago) was only ready for us to move around about ten minutes before we started.

But, by 1820 (twenty minutes after start time) all that could be heard was the clicking of mice and the low level buzz of excited, whispered conversations…

How did it go so smoothly when the opposite was looming?

Chatting with Astrid later, we came to the following conclusions, which I want to share here…

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Just a musing on a tasking manager software, but for field data instead of tracing.

With the amount of data we are expecting to come back from the Soputh Kivu mapping, we need better tools and processes for getting it into OSM

If this rings bells with anyone, please feel free to get in touch…

Field data tasking manager concept

The need:

So far Missing Maps field data editing and uploading is fairly randomly done, using a combination of wiki pages, data in dropbox folders, scanned field papers.

On a small scale, this can be effective (and has been). However, as we start to get more and more data back from the field, and as field data becomes a normal part of mapathons / armchair mapping, this model doesn’t scale well.

It relies far too much on the person managing the project being present to explain the data and the system for uploading it. It also relies on individuals to carefully document how much of the data they took responsibility for they actually edited / uploaded.

The / One solution:

The HOT tasking manager is a great example of how software can solve problems in a crowdsourcing / microtasking environment. Whilst there is always room for improvement, its fundamental raison d’etre means that large tasks can be worked on collaboratively by many individuals at the same time.

One solution to the scaling of editing of field data is a task manager for field data that chunks up geographical areas and then presents data relevant to that area, whilst providing instructions on purpose and process.

What would this look like?

The user signs in and elects a task. The task displays with instructions and purpose. The user chooses a square from a grid. The TM displays the types of data availabkle in that square. The user then confirms their choice and locks it or chooses an alternative square.

One the square is confirmed the current OSM data for that area is displayed on the screen.

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Just a quick note to say well done to everyone who contributed to Missing Maps task #1068.

Data contributed by you in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp is now being used by NGOs within the camp. The image below is a map of the camp, made by MSF and featured on reliefweb.

Just wanted to share some thoughts from the mapping party at Imperial College in London last night.

The London mapathons have always been a place of excellent collaboration and idea exchange and for that reason this is where we try to meet anyone who wants to collaborate with us. I just wanted to share some of the conversations I had or overheard.

Imperial College students in the iD room (different rooms for iD and JOSM users this month) were discussing how they thought they could help Missing Maps and HOT automate some our processes.

Matt from Accenture, who had volunteered at the Accenture corporate mapathon, dropped by to discuss how he and his colleagues might be able to collaborate on helping us quantify the contribution of our mappers, to better plan our tasking and develop tools.

Ny came down from Loughborough, where he is doing a masters, to discuss Missing Maps collaboration on his thesis.

Carmen from MSF recruited some of our JOSM users to support her remotely when she goes field mapping in Bangladesh in July.

Joseph from Reuters was there talking to the HOTties for a story he is planning to write on Missing Maps.

These are just some examples, but it was clear last night that the Missing Maps London mapping parties are becoming so much more than a group of people mapping. The project is coming alive and growing legs and wings (and possibly other bits).

It’s beautiful to see and a privilege to be a part of (and we did loads of mapping!)

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So, a friend invites you to a mapping party…

Or, an NGO you really respect asks for help mapping the area they are working in….

Or, you see an article calling for mapping volunteers and sign up…

But, you’ve never mapped before!

What do you do?

It’s easy. Just remember this catchy acronym: HPSSU

Firstly, get your HARDWARE ready. This is a posh way of saying make sure your laptop is working and, if you have one, your mouse is in your bag (a wheelie one is best)

Secondly, create your Open Street Map (OSM) PROFILE (do that here - it takes almost no time at all)

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