Me da mucho placer a ver este proyecto creando! Estoy un ‘fan’ del iniciativo de Maptime Bogota :)

Thanks for the post, Heather. Look forward to supporting this work!

Ah yes, you’re right, Pierre! This is the project associated with that hashtag. Not in Somalia at all… https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/1318

Sorry @G1assman didn’t see your response before replying to Pierre. Thanks for sharing and I see what you are saying…

One of the issues that HOT has is that the automatic hashtag that the tasking manager generates is the one that says #hotosm-project-XXX. This is applied to changesets comments regardless of whether it is a ‘HOT-run’ project, such as the Somalia one that Imma mentioned above, or a project managed by another group, community or organisation but using the tasking manager, such as the example given by G1assman which is / was managed by OSM Togo or Projet Espace OSM Francophone (I can’t find a wiki entry but here is their blog).

What we end up with is a lack of clarity (and perceived transparency) around who has started, and therefore should be responsible for managing, a project (including paying attention to data quality).

(…and this is really not to criticise anyone for making the assumption that a #hotosm-project-XXX hashtag means it’s a HOT-run project - that is a very logical conclusion)

Hi @PierZen, not arguing with that. Just clarifying on the weird grids that are all over the place…

Hi @G1asshouse, just checked out the grids and agree they are bad, but I don’t see a HOT hashtag. Maybe I am reading the wrong metadata, but it seems like they are all done by a user called abdiraad more than 4 years ago and the only changeset comment is ‘area’ (ie. no hashtags at all).

Couple of example changesets: changeset/50018556 changeset/50003881

Lovely diary, thanks for sharing, Becky:D

Hi @Glassman, totally see your point, but I don’t think it’s the tasking manager itself that adds the hashtags - whoever is the project manager decides what should go in there. We maybe need stronger guidance on this in the project manager onboarding.

The onboarding, by the way, does cover organised editing guidelines and outreach to local communities (and highlights OSM channels). Not true of Ghana, but there is also often no response to mailing lists etc even when this is done…

Hi @amggnn & @mebrau_UT, I have flagged the issue on the OSM-talk list. I’ll let you know if there’s any feedback… Thanks for the messages :D

• thanks for the live tweets (which I did follow). You do a great job on the https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/esopenstreetmap twitter account!

@Cyberjuan, thanks so much for this summary! I wanted to attend but, for personal reasons, couldn’t and this has motivated me to watch the video once it is published :D

Endelea na kazi nzuri!

(I hope that google translation is correct! It is supposed to say Keep up the good work!!

Thanks @martien-vdg for the post and @Puxan for the mapathon comment….

A few points to add to the discussion from myself (as someone who has been involved with lots of mapathons as an organiser and participant)…

I’m not sure that it’s the case that the majority of new mappers come from mapathons - I think probably the majority are ‘armchair mappers’ responding to emergencies and disasters at home. To date, 234k mappers have contributed OSM edits through the HOT Tasking manager (see the section: Mappers in all priority countries), whereas mapathons tend to attract tens (or occasionally >100) people mapping together.

I also think that mapathons can be great places to get started mapping (even from before having an OSM account). In good examples, new mappers are surrounded by other people mapping they can ask and talk to and there tend to be enthusiastic experts present. Also, mapathons tend to be designed to onboard and train new people, whereas approaching OSM alone is a fairly complex and overwhelming experience.

Interestingly in Martin Dittus’ research, it was found that mapathons provide a social setting that encourages longer term commitment and contribution. A small but significant number of people build relationships and community and tend to go again and again. Their contribution to OSM also tends to be very high (I am one of these people - I have been attending Missing Maps London community events for seven years now, at least once a month).

I am confident in the opinions above, but I also acknowledge that not all mapathons are the same… and, this is one of the challenges… as with many things in the open community landscape, it is very tempting to integrate rules and barriers to entry but it’s almost impossible to enforce or socialise.

I also agree with @Puxan that we need to do better with validation and feedback when it comes to mapathons… Some do have specific validation capacity but many do not and far too many projects on the HOT Tasking Manager go unvalidated (or validated not in a timely fashion). I work for HOT and it’s something we are seriously investing in at the moment to try and improve the quality of data contributed.

It was as a cub scout, scout and venture scout that I first learned the beauty and utility of maps. This is a really exciting partnership!

Hi Mario, thanks for the post. Will respond more fully very soon, but just wanted to flag this message on the HOT mailing list from a week ago…

Long story short… Beyond the small improvement you mention, the HOT data quality working group is right now actively cleaning up and archiving old projects on the Tasking Manager (as well as developing a policy for ongoing project gardening).

More to come…

Hi, really nice post (I know I am late reading it!), thanks for sharing…

Be interested if you have links to examples of OSM use from any of the cities you mentioned…

By the way, I think the diagram came from Rebecca Firth originally… https://twitter.com/rebeccafirthy/status/1202952838722342912?lang=en

That’s cool! There’s a bunch of us at a mapathon taking a look at the moment :)

@qeef I see your point. It’s awkwardly worded.

I guess that HOT is trying to evolve to be a network enabler for people and groups leveraging (or wanting to leverage) OSM to solve problems in the humanitarian / development sphere. The hubs are a big part of how we try and do this.

We need to better at articulating this, for sure, but I think, for many people, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Really enjoyed this, thanks Rabin

Haha, no worries…. It obviously had its 15 seconds…